The Toronto Blue Jays ended their four-game losing streak with a 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays at Rogers Centre on Thursday, providing the smallest ray of hope as the prospect of selling at the Aug. 3 trade deadline looms.

Before the game, it was reported that the Blue Jays are now listening to offers for Kevin Gausman and Daulton Varsho, according to Pat Ragazzo of Athlon Sports. They will likely shop all of their pending free agents: George Springer, Max Scherzer, Patrick Corbin, Luis Urías, Gausman and Varsho, barring a miraculous turnaround.

Their final expiring contract, Shane Bieber, put on an outstanding audition for potentially interested clubs against the Rays.

The 31-year-old right-hander pitched seven innings of one-run ball, allowing only three hits. He expertly navigated the zone and the Rays’ fifth-ranked offence, locating all six of his pitches with precision and playing them off each other masterfully. Tampa Bay’s bats fired at inopportune angles and times, producing only five hard-hit balls, only two of which went for hits.

It was pitching in every sense of the word. Bieber had only three strikeouts, but walked none. He made Junior Caminero look silly on a pair of swinging strikeouts and set down 10 straight batters to finish the outing.

The Blue Jays needed Bieber’s seven strong innings, along with scoreless frames from Tyler Rogers and Louis Varland, to halt their skid. Their anemic offence — ranked last in MLB in wRC+, runs scored and almost any other important offensive category — remained listless.

When the Blue Jays have scored in recent games — it hasn’t been often, nine runs in the last six games — it’s too often come via meagre means. Plating runs on ground ball outs and double plays doesn’t quite have the same gusto or effectiveness as balls driven to the wall and beyond. Toronto’s first run of the game was once again of the infield variety. But this time it was also a little different.

After Ernie Clement hit a signature first-pitch single and Springer walked, Alejandro Kirk topped a dribbler down the third-base line. Caminero flubbed a bare-handed attempt on the swinging bunt, and as the ball rolled away, Clement instantly recognized that it was too far for Caminero to make a play, rounded third and dashed home. Springer also took advantage and snuck into third before the Rays were able to recover.

It’s the kind of heads-up play that defined the 2025 Blue Jays’ success on the margins and has been largely absent this year. The Blue Jays’ minus-5 Statcast baserunning runs is tied for last in MLB.

The Blue Jays also played some uncharacteristically good defence relative to their performance this season. Toronto does have a plus-20 Statcast field run value, but almost all of that has come from its catchers. It’s a minus-1 in the infield and outfield combined.

But on Thursday, Myles Straw made a nice running, over-the-shoulder catch in the first, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. robbed extra bases from Victor Mesa Jr. on a shot down the line, and Kazuma Okamoto made several nice plays at third, including back-to-back in the third inning. Clement added to the list with a sweet sliding stop in the sixth.

After Okamoto’s two gems, Tampa Bay tied the game with a Hunter Feduccia double and Yandy Díaz single. Toronto reclaimed the lead with a double-single sequence of their own from Yohendrick Piñango and Springer, respectively, in the bottom half of the third. Springer later hit a leadoff double, also make a strong case for himself as a trade target in this game. However he can block any potential trade as a player with 10-and-5 rights.

The Blue Jays added an insurance run when Guerrero singled home Straw in the seventh, and the bullpen locked it down with two perfect innings after that.

Now, Toronto will have to stay near perfect going forward to dissuade their front office from splitting up a core that was inseparable only one year ago.