TORONTO — John Schneider maintained there is still plenty of work to do, but is happy with his team’s play and its direction recently.
The Toronto Blue Jays had seven batters get at least one hit, and Dylan Cease settled down after a tough first inning to finish with eight strikeouts in a 4-2 win over the Houston Astros on Monday.
It was Toronto’s fifth win in six games and the Blue Jays managed to get back to .500 with a 39-39 record.
“Just the at-bats up and down, guys doing their part. And you can’t always rely on a couple three-run homers to get you back in a game,” said Schneider, Toronto’s manager. " … I thought tonight we played really good defence again, that’s been our calling card for a while.
“When you look at a typical game that we want to play, there’s some grind, there’s really good defence and there’s really good pitching. So I think that’s kind of what we’ve been doing. … It’s nice to see everyone pick up a little bit of momentum and come to the ballpark expecting to win.”
Toronto came into the season with high expectations following a busy off-season and a surprising run to the World Series last year. However, with a number of injuries the Blue Jays have had a difficult time getting back to their ways.
“We have a lot of resilience, a lot of talent, even though I think we’ve underperformed a lot,” Cease said. " … We got punched in the face a bit and we’re making our way back."
The scheduled season debut of star right-hander Shane Bieber on Tuesday is only expected to help.
“He’s an ace calibre pitcher and I think it’s going to be a big part of what we’ve got going forward,” Cease said.
Aside from Cease, third baseman Kazuma Okamoto has been a boon for the Blue Jays as one of a couple prized off-season additions.
Okamoto hit his 17th homer of the season on Monday and leads the team in home runs and RBIs (46) through 76 appearances.
“I think he’s adjusting every day,” Schneider said. “I think his work is good. His confidence is in a good spot. I think it’s definitely shown he can hit a fastball. And I think every day that goes on, he just keeps getting a little closer to covering some more pitches.
“Great game from him, obviously coming off the big home run on Saturday, but tough pitcher in (Hunter) Brown for sure. So to get us on the board was good, but he’s sticking with it. This is an adjustment for him every day sticking with it.”
The Blue Jays forced Brown, Houston’s starter, into 85 pitches in only three innings of play by the time he was pulled from the game.
“It’s huge man. He’s good, and that was kind of the plan, right? It was kind of … try to wear him down if you miss a heater early in the count,” Schneider said. “And as the pitch count climbed, I thought that it got a little bit contagious.
“We had a lot traffic. It felt like we had momentum. It felt like we had the lead almost when we didn’t. So it’s just a really, really contagious approach up and down to get him out after three.”
Abdulhamid Ibrahim, The Canadian Press
