The red-hot Jays host Aaron Judge and first-place Yankees starting Thursday (Sportsnet One, 7 p.m.).
Sweep of Reds caps 18-10 May with Bronx Bombers on deck — and the homers are flying
Instead of turning a game-ending double play to complete a threegame sweep of the Reds at the Rogers Centre, Blue Jays defensive whiz Ryan Goins booted a tailor-made grounder in the top of the ninth inning — putting the potential tying run at third base.
“Oh, crap,” Jays manager John Gibbons said later, summing up his reaction in the dugout at the time.
The Jays suffered more than their share of heartbreaking losses in April, when they went an ugly 8-17 after a franchise-worst 2-11 start.
But May was a much different story. And with Wednesday’s game on the line, Jays closer Roberto Osuna struck out Billy Hamilton and Zack Cozart — leaving Canadian slugger Joey Votto on deck — to seal a 5-4 victory over Cincinnati.
Now 26-27, the Jays could reach the .500 mark Thursday night when the New York Yankees come to town for the opener of a four-game series.
“We felt we had that in us,” said Gibbons. “It was a really rough month of April, that’s no exaggeration. We could have buried our- selves. A couple of guys went down and the guys that were filling in kept us afloat, and did a nice job. Hopefully from here on out we play good, steady ball for the next four months and see where it takes us.”
The three-game sweep of the Reds had a little bit of everything, but a whole lot of home runs:
Troy Tulowitzki (with a grand slam), Justin Smoak and Russell Martin all went deep in Monday’s 17-2 blowout victory, starter Marcus Stroman’s sixth of the season.
On Tuesday, homers from Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista, Kendrys Morales and Martin led to a 6-4 victory in J.A. Happ’s return from the disabled list.
With Donaldson, Tulowitzki and Kevin Pillar resting on Wednesday, Devon Travis (with a two-run shot in the seventh inning) and Luke Maile (with a man aboard in the fifth) stepped up and went deep in the series finale — in which Bautista, Morales and Smoak went a combined 1-for-12. After finishing April with a .130 batting average, Travis was the Jays’ most valuable player in May: four homers,19 RBIs and a1.019 on-base plus slugging mark. Maile, who has just four hits all season, gave Toronto the lead with his blast.
Wednesday’s starting pitcher, Mike Bolsinger, did just enough: striking out seven over 51⁄ innings while al
3 lowing three runs on four hits. He retired nine straight Reds in the third, fourth and fifth frames.
It marked a solid ending to a makeor-break month for the Jays. Travis, for one, was eager to find out what June has in store.
“Gibby was preaching to us the whole time to stay the course, don’t fall off, keep plugging, things are going to turn around,” said Travis. “The guys really took to that. It was a fun month, for sure.”