'We're fighting every day': Blue Jays find their power for key win

TORONTO -- Power can be baseball’s best paint job.

The old wallpaper that’s become an eyesore is still under there, but when you slap a fresh coat of paint on top, it’s easy to forget about it. The Blue Jays have their flaws, like all clubs do, but they haven’t always done the best job of distracting us from them.

Power did just that in Friday night’s 4-1 win over the Angels at Rogers Centre, which started as another Shohei Ohtani spectacle before the Blue Jays took over. Ohtani launched his 39th home run of the season on the very first pitch he saw, building on what looks like another AL MVP season, But Toronto did what anyone must against the Angels: It beat the other 25 players on the roster.

Home runs from Matt Chapman, Danny Jansen and new leadoff man Whit Merrifield powered an offense that came up short in a few big spots with runners in scoring position, which is a story you’ve read dozens of times this season. The home runs cover it up, though, and this is a roster capable of slugging its way through games much more often.

“Our team is well-rounded,” Chapman said. “Maybe at the beginning of the season we weren’t hitting a lot of homers, but now we’re starting to. I think that, up and down our lineup, we’ve got guys who can hit home runs. The fact they’re coming in bunches right now is a good thing. We’re seeing the ball well. Hopefully this takes the pressure off some guys when we’re able to get a big homer, a big hit.”

The Blue Jays finished the day tied for 14th in MLB with 120 home runs as a team. Add in a .420 slugging percentage that ranks them ninth in the Majors and the outlook is fairly decent, but not close to what this lineup’s talent could be producing. That power from one through nine that Chapman mentions seemed capable of leading the Majors in homers this season, but some power outages from bigger names have kept that number closer to earth.

Chapman’s big blow on Friday came with a little spice, too, adding to the drama of a sold-out crowd that packed in to see baseball’s brightest star.

Soon after Ohtani homered in the first, Apple TV cameras caught an exchange between Chapman and manager John Schneider in the dugout. Chapman appeared to be disagreeing with how the Blue Jays pitched Ohtani in the first inning, with one out and no one on base, and the third baseman was making that crystal clear to Schneider. The very next inning, Chapman strolled up and launched one.

“I go out there every day and I want to win,” Chapman said. “I get passionate sometimes. Obviously, I think there’s better ways to handle things, but it’s a thing where you get caught up in the moment and you get a little bit frustrated. For me, personally, I probably could have handled it better, but it comes from a good place. I’m competitive. I just want to win baseball games. It’s nothing negative or anything like that. Sometimes I just get fired up.”

That’s just fine, especially when it all works out like it did for Chapman and the Blue Jays.

You could see Toronto’s new lineup shape working, too. Merrifield, the All-Star who’s quietly been one of this lineup’s most productive hitters, moved into the leadoff spot and went 3-for-4 with the home run. He replaced George Springer, who slid down to bat fifth and now owns a .254 average with a .716 OPS.

It’s still a work in progress as August and the Trade Deadline loom, but Chapman has liked the brand of baseball his club has been playing for a while now.

“Maybe we’re just starting to find ways to come out on top in some of these close games,” Chapman said. “I feel like we’ve been in a lot of games lately and we’ve just been able to finish it off and find ways to win. Obviously, we’re in the second half here. August is right around the corner and teams are making moves. Teams are making pushes. It’s pretty obvious what’s in front of us. We’re fighting every day for a playoff spot.”

You can still find the cracks here, of course.

There’s still the dated wallpaper underneath, with a 1-for-7 night with runners in scoring position and a couple of missed opportunities. But what you’ll likely remember from this game are three home runs and a win.