Things worth mentioning…

• Hell yeah, what a great day of baseball. That second game really gave you the This team is magic feeling. But let’s talk about the first one first, though. The Jays earned wins in completely different ways today. In the first game, Jaime Garcia was solid, allowing three runs over five frames, but the offence exploded for 11 runs. Yangervis Solarte hit a bomb in the first, Randal Grichuk hit an insurance bomb in the sixth, and everybody in the lineup had a hit except for Russell Martin, but he took two walks. 11-3 Jays. Fun times!
• And then there was the second game, which was even more impressive than the first. Joe Biagini put together a solid start in which he scattered three runs over five-and-two-thirds. He had the bases loaded with nobody out in the first but managed to get out of it allowing just one run. I think last year’s Biagini would have gotten smacked around after that ugly start, but he showed a lot of poise in this outing which is impressive given the short notice.
• The Jays couldn’t touch Danny Duffy. It looked like they were well on their way to a loss as Duffy exited the game after six innings of scoreless ball. But, in the seventh, Kansas City’s ‘pen imploded. Justin Grimm walked three guys, including BOTH Kevin Pillar and Randal Grichuk, to load the bases. Luke Maile, who I’ll touch on in a second, drove in two runs, then Devon Travis tied the game with a single, then Steve Pearce gave them the lead with another single. Ryan Tepera blew the lead after that, but Roberto Osuna and Tyler Clippard pitched scoreless ninth and then innings to give Maile a chance to be a hero again.
• Holy shit, Luke Maile. What the fuck?! Where did this come from? Maile, who had an OPS of like .400 last season, is suddenly an Elite Slugger. Maile went two-for-four in the second game today, and both hits were massive. He came up clutch in the seventh inning, driving in two runs with the bases loaded to kick off Toronto’s comeback effort. Then, in the bottom of the tenth, Maile came up with the bases loaded again and ripped a single for the walk-off. He’s looked ridiculously good at the plate so far this season. Maybe he’s next up on the Late Bloomer list for the Blue Jays. We’ve seen a lot of those in the past.
• The Jays are now 11-5. I’m pretty sure they didn’t win their 11th game until like late May last season. Honestly, you could convince me they didn’t win 11 games at all in 2017. But here we are. The Blue Jays Are Actually Good, friends. This team has some 2015-esque magic to it.