Suddenly homer-centric Blue Jays complete season sweep of L.A. Angels (2024)

The Blue Jays’ just-completed homestand — capped by Sunday’s 8-2 rout and a sweep of the weekend series against the Los Angeles Angels — featured just about everything.

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Let’s review.

— There was an over-reaction to pitcher Chris Bassitt appearing on a host-friendly podcast and the subsequent fence-mending

— Joey Votto’s unusual retirement from an empty Buffalo parking lot.

— Bowden Francis’ near no-no.

— And the Blue Jays playing some of their most entertaining baseball of the season as the home run suddenly surfaced as part of their arsenal in winning five of seven against the Halos and Cincinnati Reds.

There were the back-to-back blasts produced by Joey Loperfido and Addison Barger in a walkoff win on Friday as fans got a glimpse of what the future might hold.

There was Ernie Clement hitting a homer in three straight games, while Vladimir Guerrero Jr. eclipsed last year’s belt total when he crushed his 27th long ball on Saturday, a day when all the buzz, justifiably, was on Francis and how he came within three outs of joining Dave Stieb as the only pitchers in Blue Jays history to throw a no-hitter.

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What the past week ultimately means in the big picture knowing some major moves await the franchise this winter is anyone’s guess.

Suffice to say it wasn’t boring or uneventful.

The season’s final game between the Jays and Halos saw the visitors issuing an intentional walk to Guerrero that would load the bases with two out in the third inning.

Angels starter Tyler Anderson then walked home the game’s first run when facing Alejandro Kirk.

Somewhat surprisingly, the Angels issued another intentional walk to Vladdy in the seventh inning — this time with the bases empty and after he had a 3-1 count on him.

Kirk made that perplexing piece of strategy backfire again when he launched his fifth homer of the season to left-centre.

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Fittingly, it was staff ace Kevin Gausman putting the exclamation point on their four-game sweep of the Angels, going seven complete innings, striking out 10, with no walks, allowing just one run on two hits.

He began Sunday’s start by retiring the first nine batters.

Oddly enough, it would be Taylor Ward recording the first hit off Gausman, the same Taylor Ward who broke up Francis’ no-hit bid when L.A.’s leadoff hitter began the ninth inning with a no-doubt home run.

He came close to going deep again on Sunday when he led off the fourth by sending a rocket off the wall in centre field for a triple and then tied the game on a Zach Neto single.

Toronto regained the lead for good in the home half of the fifth inning on a Guerrero run-scoring double.

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The Jays’ lead increased after Barger went deep on a two-run blast one inning later when he destroyed a slider and sent it deep into right field.

For the 14th game in a row, the Jays had recorded at least one long ball, the team’s longest streak since 2019. During the team’s current run of home runs, baseball’s longest active streak by the way, the Jays posted a 9-5 record.

A two-week sample size isn’t sufficient to make any definitive conclusions. But for a team that couldn’t hit home runs, the Jays have flipped the script in the span of a fortnight.

Keep in mind the opposition has not been good, but at the same time the Blue Jays have been playing better baseball with an obvious freedom to their game because they know there won’t be any playoff appearance.

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Funny how that works.

TOUGH ROAD AHEAD

Now comes a tough stretch of the schedule, which begins in Beantown on Monday afternoon in a scheduled split doubleheader.

The day’s oddity at Fenway Park features the resumption of a suspended game that had Danny Jansen playing for the Blue Jays.

When he crouches behind the plate as a member of the Red Sox, he’ll become the first player in MLB history to play for two teams in the same game.

The Jays will now face five teams with winning records during a 16-game stretch, as opposed to the recent slate when their opponents sported losing marks.

fzicarelli@postmedia.com

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