<p>After dropping their last two series at home, the <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/">Toronto Blue Jays</a> were looking to turn things around while welcoming a strong opponent in the San Diego Padres. While the Mariners swept the Padres before landing in Toronto, the club features some heavy hitters and a bullpen that ranks towards the top in most statistical categories, so victory for the Jays wasn&#8217;t going to be easy.</p>
<p>Fast forward to last night, and the Blue Jays were doing a lot of things right. Not only did they win both games to take the series, they pounded the Padres into submission to the tune of a 14-0 drubbing and secured at least a series win before today&#8217;s afternoon contest.</p>
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<p>Let’s step back for a second before the series started.</p>
<p>Toronto’s job this time around was to outsmart, outpitch and outscore the dangerous San Diego team. With practically anemic offensive records, the Blue Jays were carrying a heavy burden on their shoulders to perform. As the pressure mounted for a third-place team in the AL East, something began to turn around, slowly but surely.</p>
<p>It all started with Chris Bassitt throwing six shutout innings and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Anthony Santander clubbing home runs to show off their power on Tuesday night. By the time Toronto scored three runs, it also successfully prevented the once-powerful Padres’ lineup from scoring any of their own – that’s how the Blue Jays took the first game of the series with the score of 3-0. It was a close game, but one that went in the Jays&#8217; favour.</p>
<p>But San Diego still could change the course of their fortune in one swing or one pitch. Its roster construction was too good to fail for this long. In that sense, Toronto couldn’t simply assume that they could easily secure a series win. It was only a matter of time until the Padres found their groove, even if they had dropped four straight at the point.</p>
<p>Except they didn’t; at least on Wednesday night.</p>
<p>Instead, Kevin Gausman <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/blue-jays-two-touchdowns-series-san-diego-padres">confounded</a> the entire Padres’ lineup for seven innings and only surrendered three hits; he didn’t give up any runs and recorded nine strikeouts against what’s supposed to be an unstoppable offence. This included zero walks and 19 whiffs, including punching out Fernando Tatis Jr. twice on two splitters way out of the zone.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Broke down Gausman&#39;s splitter changes on Blue Jays Central last night.</p>
<p>Wednesday &#8212; his best night with the splitter all season &#8212; was his lowest spin rate and most vertical (over horizontal) movement on the pitch.</p>
<p>Spoke to him about it last week &amp; this is the goal. <a href="https://t.co/h4ku0UII9B">pic.twitter.com/h4ku0UII9B</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) <a href="https://twitter.com/BlakeMurphyODC/status/1925537469694378131?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 22, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>The Blue Jays’ offence, however, couldn’t score any runs for four innings, but that was until they got to the bottom of the fifth. It was a pitching duel up until then. It took Anthony Santander’s single to spark something in the lineup, and Addison Barger followed up with a mammoth shot of his own that almost left the park &#8211; a long fly ball to centre field. Nathan Lukes picked up the slack, driving his ball deep over the right field wall to give the Blue Jays a two-run lead.</p>
<p>Little did the 23,000 fans in attendance know, Lukes was only the start of an unbelievably confusing but satisfying offensive explosion. No, it wasn’t the kind that was filled with nine home runs in a row, but it was the kind that was filled with the Padres’ defensive mishaps and Toronto taking full advantage of those opportunities. As the Padres&#8217; infield practically forgot the basics, Guerrero and George Springer singled, and Jonatan Clase doubled to score five more runs in the bottom of the seventh when he took over for Santander.</p>
<p>The scoring madness continued in the bottom of the eighth when Ernie Clement got hit by a pitch while Lukes and Bo Bichette both singled to put the Blue Jays eight runs ahead of the Padres. Yet again, San Diego’s infield defence committed another error to load the bases for Daulton Varsho. This was the time for Varsho to get his first hit of the day, and boy, he did just that. Varsho’s one big swing sent the baseball way above Padres’ centre fielder Jackson Merrill’s head, and just like that, he broke his 0-4 hitting record with a grand slam.</p>
<p>After seeing that Toronto scored 12 runs in total, San Diego succumbed to the reality and sent a position player out on the mound to eat up the rest of the inning. With not-so-sharp pitching from infielder Tyler Wade, the Blue Jays cashed in two more runs to make the final score 14-0. The Blue Jays secured the much-needed and deserved series win that brought them back up to .500. Even though watching the standings isn’t all that meaningful this early in the season, the team now ranks second in the AL East, which puts them ahead of the Boston Red Sox, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Baltimore Orioles.</p>
<p>Before the Blue Jays painfully lost a series against the Tigers, the players on the team talked about how the feeling–or “mojo,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6364430/2025/05/17/blue-jays-comebacks/">according to Daulton </a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6364430/2025/05/17/blue-jays-comebacks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Varsho</a>–was</span> just different this year. In <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6364430/2025/05/17/blue-jays-comebacks/">one of the more recent stories</a> from Mitch Bannon at The Athletic, Eric Lauer explained that the Blue Jays have just scratched and clawed until they win. That was one way to describe Toronto’s creative but gritty way of securing wins on tough days.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Good Morning 😎</p>
<p>Our 14-0 win is tied for the largest home shutout in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlueJays?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlueJays</a> HISTORY! <a href="https://t.co/8Dq93SoVrm">pic.twitter.com/8Dq93SoVrm</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) <a href="https://twitter.com/BlueJays/status/1925552060080271833?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 22, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Funny enough, the team still kind of found itself scratching and clawing even in a blowout win against the Padres on Wednesday. The Blue Jays did benefit extensively from the Padres’ errors for a couple of their runs. But the fact of the matter is that Toronto could have squandered those opportunities if their true talent level was cromulent. There was every opportunity for the Blue Jays to disappoint, yet they quenched their thirst for runs and came out victorious on Wednesday night.</p>
<p>The comeback wins represented <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6364430/2025/05/17/blue-jays-comebacks/">more than half</a> of the Blue Jays’ wins this season, but with wins like the ones from this Tuesday and Wednesday, they are now turning things around in a hurry. Not only are they scoring more in bunches, but these Blue Jays are also pitching significantly better than before, with two back-to-back shutout performances. This was what this year’s Blue Jays were supposed to be, and they’ve inched closer to the best versions of themselves in this two-game stretch.</p>
<p>The 2025 Blue Jays are a perplexing group. This team experiences a series of roller coasters filled with at least one million emotions and somehow comes out of the wild ride with eternal optimism on the other end. This iteration of the team is far from perfect, but every now and then, they might just surprise you. If they can continue to complete the fundamentals and take advantage of opposing teams&#8217; mistakes, this team might just be able to stay above .500 for the long haul.</p>
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After dropping their last two series at home, the <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/">Toronto Blue Jays</a> were looking to turn things around while welcoming a strong opponent in the San Diego Padres. While the Mariners swept the Padres before landing in Toronto, the club features some heavy hitters and a bullpen that ranks towards the top in most statistical categories, so victory for the Jays wasn't going to be easy.

Fast forward to last night, and the Blue Jays were doing a lot of things right. Not only did they win both games to take the series, they pounded the Padres into submission to the tune of a 14-0 drubbing and secured at least a series win before today's afternoon contest.
<div class="bam-inline-promotion" data-property-id="330" data-promotion-id="18983" data-context="“web-content-promocard&quot;"></div>
Let’s step back for a second before the series started.

Toronto’s job this time around was to outsmart, outpitch and outscore the dangerous San Diego team. With practically anemic offensive records, the Blue Jays were carrying a heavy burden on their shoulders to perform. As the pressure mounted for a third-place team in the AL East, something began to turn around, slowly but surely.

It all started with Chris Bassitt throwing six shutout innings and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Anthony Santander clubbing home runs to show off their power on Tuesday night. By the time Toronto scored three runs, it also successfully prevented the once-powerful Padres’ lineup from scoring any of their own – that’s how the Blue Jays took the first game of the series with the score of 3-0. It was a close game, but one that went in the Jays' favour.

But San Diego still could change the course of their fortune in one swing or one pitch. Its roster construction was too good to fail for this long. In that sense, Toronto couldn’t simply assume that they could easily secure a series win. It was only a matter of time until the Padres found their groove, even if they had dropped four straight at the point.

Except they didn’t; at least on Wednesday night.

Instead, Kevin Gausman <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/blue-jays-two-touchdowns-series-san-diego-padres">confounded</a> the entire Padres’ lineup for seven innings and only surrendered three hits; he didn’t give up any runs and recorded nine strikeouts against what’s supposed to be an unstoppable offence. This included zero walks and 19 whiffs, including punching out Fernando Tatis Jr. twice on two splitters way out of the zone.

https://twitter.com/BlakeMurphyODC/status/1925537469694378131

The Blue Jays’ offence, however, couldn’t score any runs for four innings, but that was until they got to the bottom of the fifth. It was a pitching duel up until then. It took Anthony Santander’s single to spark something in the lineup, and Addison Barger followed up with a mammoth shot of his own that almost left the park - a long fly ball to centre field. Nathan Lukes picked up the slack, driving his ball deep over the right field wall to give the Blue Jays a two-run lead.

Little did the 23,000 fans in attendance know, Lukes was only the start of an unbelievably confusing but satisfying offensive explosion. No, it wasn’t the kind that was filled with nine home runs in a row, but it was the kind that was filled with the Padres’ defensive mishaps and Toronto taking full advantage of those opportunities. As the Padres' infield practically forgot the basics, Guerrero and George Springer singled, and Jonatan Clase doubled to score five more runs in the bottom of the seventh when he took over for Santander.

The scoring madness continued in the bottom of the eighth when Ernie Clement got hit by a pitch while Lukes and Bo Bichette both singled to put the Blue Jays eight runs ahead of the Padres. Yet again, San Diego’s infield defence committed another error to load the bases for Daulton Varsho. This was the time for Varsho to get his first hit of the day, and boy, he did just that. Varsho’s one big swing sent the baseball way above Padres’ centre fielder Jackson Merrill’s head, and just like that, he broke his 0-4 hitting record with a grand slam.

After seeing that Toronto scored 12 runs in total, San Diego succumbed to the reality and sent a position player out on the mound to eat up the rest of the inning. With not-so-sharp pitching from infielder Tyler Wade, the Blue Jays cashed in two more runs to make the final score 14-0. The Blue Jays secured the much-needed and deserved series win that brought them back up to .500. Even though watching the standings isn’t all that meaningful this early in the season, the team now ranks second in the AL East, which puts them ahead of the Boston Red Sox, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Baltimore Orioles.

Before the Blue Jays painfully lost a series against the Tigers, the players on the team talked about how the feeling–or “mojo,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6364430/2025/05/17/blue-jays-comebacks/">according to Daulton </a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6364430/2025/05/17/blue-jays-comebacks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Varsho</a>–was</span> just different this year. In <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6364430/2025/05/17/blue-jays-comebacks/">one of the more recent stories</a> from Mitch Bannon at The Athletic, Eric Lauer explained that the Blue Jays have just scratched and clawed until they win. That was one way to describe Toronto’s creative but gritty way of securing wins on tough days.

https://twitter.com/BlueJays/status/1925552060080271833

Funny enough, the team still kind of found itself scratching and clawing even in a blowout win against the Padres on Wednesday. The Blue Jays did benefit extensively from the Padres’ errors for a couple of their runs. But the fact of the matter is that Toronto could have squandered those opportunities if their true talent level was cromulent. There was every opportunity for the Blue Jays to disappoint, yet they quenched their thirst for runs and came out victorious on Wednesday night.

The comeback wins represented <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6364430/2025/05/17/blue-jays-comebacks/">more than half</a> of the Blue Jays’ wins this season, but with wins like the ones from this Tuesday and Wednesday, they are now turning things around in a hurry. Not only are they scoring more in bunches, but these Blue Jays are also pitching significantly better than before, with two back-to-back shutout performances. This was what this year’s Blue Jays were supposed to be, and they’ve inched closer to the best versions of themselves in this two-game stretch.

The 2025 Blue Jays are a perplexing group. This team experiences a series of roller coasters filled with at least one million emotions and somehow comes out of the wild ride with eternal optimism on the other end. This iteration of the team is far from perfect, but every now and then, they might just surprise you. If they can continue to complete the fundamentals and take advantage of opposing teams' mistakes, this team might just be able to stay above .500 for the long haul.

<hr />

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The Blue Jays secure a much needed series win over the Padres

Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (7) hits an RBI single against the Toronto Blue Jays during the sixth inning at Rogers Centre.

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