Blue Jays steal shocking series from streaking Yanks

After being destroyed at the hands of the Colorado Rockies in Denver last weekend, the Blue Jays, playing with little expectations against the first-place New York Yankees, managed to gloriously steal a series win, taking two of the three games in triumphant fashion at Rogers Centre.

Thanks to some excellent clutch hitting and starting pitching that held down the fort, the Blue Jays improved to 23-39, and now sit in fourth place of the American League East, 10.5 games behind New York.

Here’s a look at the good, the bad, and the weird from the season’s most surprising series thus far:

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (3-for-12, 3 R, HR, 4 RBI) was productive once again, as were fellow infielders Eric Sogard (5-for-8, 2 2B, HR, 3 R) and Brandon Drury (3-for-8, HR).

Elsewhere in the lineup, Randal Grichuk (5-for-12, 3 HR, 4 RBI, 4 R) was, once again, quietly brilliant, having a massive second game in which he hit two home runs.

Sam Gaviglio (2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R), Tim Mayza (1.0 IP, SO, 0 H, 0 R), and Ken Giles (2.1 IP, 5 SO, 2 BB, 2 H, 0 R, SV) were good out of the bullpen, while Elvis Luciano (1.0 IP, 1 H, 2 SO, 0 R) had a solid outing in the finale.

Thomas Pannone (4.0 IP, SO, 1 H, 0 R), pitching in two of the three games of the series, was tremendous, despite some struggles during the month of May. His bullpen colleague Daniel Hudson (1.1 IP, H, 2 SO, 0 R) was also productive in a single appearance.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (1-for-10, 2 SO, 1 TB), Rowdy Tellez (1-for-4, SO) and Freddy Galvis (1-for-11, HR, 4 SO) were all hapless at the dish, while Danny Jansen (1-for-6, 1 TB) continued to falter offensively. Justin Smoak (2-for-12, SO, 2 TB) also struggled with the bat, lowering his season’s OPS to .830.

Edwin Jackson (3.1 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 3 SO, 2 HR) was roughed up yet again, while Trent Thornton (5.0 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, HR, 3 BB) had a surprisingly ineffective go in the series’ middle game.

The roof at Rogers Centre was leaking once again Wednesday, Rob Longley of The Toronto Sun pointed out on Twitter. Just a day later, the Blue Jays played their first game with the dome open…

The dome, which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, leaked twice earlier in the season. Unsurprisingly, the team deployed cleanup crews at various points throughout the concourse to ensure that everything was promptly dried.

In a rare occurrence, the Arizona Diamondbacks (31-32) will visit Rogers Centre to play a three-game series against the Blue Jays starting Friday. Arizona will send Merrill Kelly (5-6, 4.41 ERA, 55 SO), Zack Greinke (6-2, 3.09 ERA, 75 SO), and Robbie Ray (4-3, 3.62 ERA, 91 SO) to the hill against Marcus Stroman (3-7, 2.84 ERA, 59 SO), Aaron Sanchez (3-6, 3.95 ERA, 58 SO), and Clayton Richard (0-1, 3.55 ERA, 9 SO).