Ladies and gentlemen, we have a sweep.
Amidst three dismal and anemic audiences in the south side of Chicago, the Blue Jays whitewashed the White Sox, marking Toronto’s first sweep since September of last season. Here are my Three Key Things as to how it transpired.
Simply simple, Toronto took care of business
The White Sox are awful. Like, historically horrible. Like, the worst start in team history awful.
With that being said, Sunday was a great opportunity for the Blue Jays to recoup from last weekend’s setback in Detroit. Consider that they would be without Chicago’s finest starts, Garrett Crochet and Erick Fedde, the former of whom dominated the Blue Jays just a week earlier, and this could have been a likely sweep for the Jays. Nothing is assured, but the Blue Jays did precisely what they should have.
Toronto’s three starting pitchers allowed only one earned run combined (more on this later), they outscored Chicago 15-4, and they drew 20 walks as they accomplished a 5-for-6 season record against the league’s poorest team.
The Blue Jays are in the middle of a softer patch in their schedule, and they haven’t necessarily taken full advantage of it. Their last 10 games have featured six games against the White Sox and four games against the Tigers, and the Jays have only been able to generate a 6-4 record during that time. Missing Paul Skenes and Jared Jones this weekend in Pittsburgh will only benefit them, but with a vital four-game set against the Orioles looming next week, these are the games that Toronto can exploit to catapult themselves back into Wild Card contention.
Davis Schneider and IKF are leaving their mark
Don’t point the finger at any of these men for any of the team’s offensive troubles.
We’ll start with Davis Schneider, who has made it extremely easy for his management to leave him in the leadoff spot. Schneider recorded a 4-for-12 line in this series with a home run, five RBIs, two doubles, three walks, and three runs. He’s turning out to be precisely what Toronto has needed from their leadoff guy, whether it’s walking, getting a hit, or driving in runs. Truth be told, he’s been doing this since his promotion to the majors last August.
Schneider’s home run on Monday afternoon was his sixth of the season, and it was a two-run drive that increased Toronto’s advantage from two to four in the ninth inning. He kicked off Tuesday night’s game with a double, and when the lineup moved over to him later in the game with runners in scoring position, he produced an RBI double and a sacrifice fly.
