Whew! Blue Jays fans let out a collective exhale this afternoon as they defeated the Baltimore Orioles 6-1 to avoid the sweep. The Blue Jays have been down terrible this month, and I don’t know if the fanbase would’ve taken a sweep to Baltimore very well.

For the first six innings of the game, the Blue Jays offense was absolutely silent, the exact same as it had been for the last week. This time, it was Orioles starter Austin Voth that Toronto wanted to make look like a Cy Young candidate. However, as the game turned to the bottom of the 7th inning, Toronto would find something we haven’t seen in a long time. The Blue Jays would tally six runs in the inning, coming by way of clutch hitting, singles, doubles, and much more!

The scoring was kick-started by a one-out single from Teoscar Hernandez, followed by a single by Bo Bichette. Hernandez and Bichette have taken a lot of heat lately due to poor at-bats, so them coming up with timely hits is reassuring to see. With Raimel Tapia due up, Brandon Hyde decided to go with a left-hander in Cionel Perez out of the bullpen. John Schneider countered that by pinch-hitting George Springer. Springer came through with yet another clutch hit, as he laced a ball into center field for an RBI single. It was career hit number 1,000 for Springer.

Instead of simply grounding into a double play to end any and all momentum, Santiago Espinal followed Springer’s hit with a double to right field, cashing in two more runs. Toronto would load the bases for Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who would draw a walk for yet another RBI with the bases loaded. Alejandro Kirk would then put the dagger in the game with a 2-run double.

The offensive outburst was what got the fans going, but one of the bigger storylines of the game was Ross Stripling, who was literally almost perfect in his first outing since coming off the Injured List. Stripling was absolutely dialed in from the beginning, as he retired the first 18 batters of the game in order. It was one of the performances that perhaps yelled, “I deserve a very substantial qualifying offer after this season.” Since the Orioles ruin anything that is good in the world, Cedric Mullins would lead off the 7th inning with a base hit, ending Striplings bid for a perfect game. Since he threw only 66 pitches in his rehab start, it would’ve been interesting to see how much longer Schneider would’ve let him go had he continued his pursuit of perfection.

Stripling would retire Anthony Santander next and exit the game, leaving his final line at 6 1/3 IP, one hit, zero runs, zero walks, and seven strikeouts. Yimi Garcia stranded Mullins on third base to end the 7th, and it gave way to the offense to let loose.

Today’s win ends a three-game losing streak, as well as a five-game losing streak against Baltimore. Their six runs also tops the number of runs they scored in the first two games of this series combined (five).

Now, it’s on to New York to face a Yankees team that is reeling right now. As of this afternoon, they have the MLB’s 3rd worst record since July 9th. This type of win will hopefully allow Toronto to take some much-needed momentum on the road and potentially steal a series in the Bronx. It will be a tall task pitching-wise, as the Blue Jays send Berrios-Gausman-White-Manoah against Montas-Taillon-Cole-Cortes.