Rookie's historic series carries Blue Jays to crucial sweep
Schneider the first in MLB history to compile nine hits with two HRs through three games
BOSTON -- The Blue Jays came to Fenway Park winless in seven meetings with the Red Sox this season, with a two-game lead over them for the last AL Wild Card spot and an offense that was struggling to score.
By Sunday, all that had been turned on its head as Toronto pounded out 16 hits to take a resounding 13-1 victory over Boston, completing a three-game sweep -- featuring a historic debut series from Davis Schneider -- and putting the club firmly back on track.
¡°This is playing in sync,¡± manager John Schneider said. ¡°It was great defense. The approach was spot on. They executed and pitching was great. There were really some high-leverage innings that some guys handled. Everything fell into place. This is a good team. I know our record [vs. the Red Sox] was 0-7 coming in.¡±
Prior to arriving in Boston, the Blue Jays dropped three of four at home against division-leading Baltimore as the offense struggled to score runs on the heels of losing its top hitter, Bo Bichette.
¡°The Baltimore series was embarrassing for us,¡± said Chris Bassitt, who picked up his 11th win of the season on Sunday. ¡°They straight up outplayed us, and I think everyone took that personal.¡±
The main change to the roster between series wound up being the biggest spark for the offense as Davis Schneider -- rated Toronto's No. 28 prospect by MLB Pipeline -- loudly announced his arrival as a Major Leaguer.
Just two days after his promotion from Triple-A Buffalo, Schneider was bumped up to third in the lineup and continued his torrid start, connecting for his second career home run, a Statcast-projected 425-foot blast that cleared everything in left field and landed on Lansdowne Street.
The second baseman went 4-for-5 with four RBIs, becoming the first player in MLB history to collect nine hits and two home runs over his first three big league games.
¡°I¡¯m a big stat guy when it comes to MLB history,¡± Schneider said as he searched for words. ¡°That¡¯s pretty cool to be one of one. I can¡¯t really describe it.¡±
¡°Tough to keep him out of the lineup,¡± said the Blue Jays' manager. ¡°He¡¯s been a spark. It¡¯s been refreshing to see a dude work his [tail] off and get here and see the results that he saw early.¡±
Overall this series, the offense exploded for 25 runs and 44 hits, collecting at least 14 hits in each of the three games over the weekend.
Benefiting from a massive lead, Bassitt worked seven innings, his longest outing since June 7, with the lone run against him a Triston Casas home run in the fourth.
¡°I felt really good,¡± Bassitt said. ¡°I felt strong. We cleaned a lot of stuff up in between starts.¡±
¡°I thought his stuff was really good,¡± John Schneider said of Bassitt. ¡°Fastball was up to 95 [mph]. Breaking stuff was awesome. A lot of tough left-handed hitters and I think he kept them off balance really well, a lot of soft contact.¡±
The Blue Jays (63-50) look to keep things rolling in their favor as they head to Progressive Field for a four-game series against the Guardians (54-58) starting Monday night.
¡°We came in really focused for this series and we did our jobs,¡± Bassitt said. ¡°We got to do the same thing in Cleveland.¡±