The Toronto Blue Jays are beginning to chirp about chasing first place in the American League East.
The next step in that pursuit will come Friday night when they open a three-game series against the visiting Chicago White Sox.
The Blue Jays stumbled with a 9-5 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday afternoon in the finale of a three-game set after winning the first two games of the series, which opened a six-game homestand.
The loss left the Blue Jays in third place in the division, three games removed from the first-place New York Yankees. The Yankees ended a six-game losing streak Thursday with a 7-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.
The Yankees’ slump helped inspire hopes of reaching for the top for the second-place Tampa Bay Rays and the Blue Jays.
“There’s so much season left, but yeah, you look up and you want to see yourself where you envisioned yourself,” Toronto manager John Schneider said. “There’s a lot of talk about the wild card, and it’s great that there’s that, but the goal every year is to try to win the division. A lot to go, but it’s nice to look up and say we’re playing well and where we are in terms of games back.”
The last time Toronto finished first in the AL East was in 2015.
The White Sox continue to struggle. They have a season-high-tying eight-game losing streak after dropping a doubleheader at home to the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday.
Spencer Turnbull (1-0, 2.08 ERA) is scheduled to make his first start for the Blue Jays on Friday night. The right-hander has made two relief appearances for Toronto since being signed as a free agent last month. He is 1-3 with a 4.78 ERA in six career starts against the White Sox.
Chicago is scheduled to start Davis Martin (2-7, 3.79 ERA) in the opener. The right-hander has faced the Blue Jays once in his career, allowing three runs in one-third of an inning in relief in 2022.
The Blue Jays will look at the series as an opportunity to gain in the standings. They were 5-1 against the White Sox last season.
“I remember at the start of the month when I said you kind of want to put your best foot forward before you get into July and the dog days and the trade deadline and all that stuff,” Schneider said. “It’s nice that we have done that. It keeps the carrot at the end of the stick, right there, even though there’s a long way to go.”
The White Sox lost the opener of their Thursday doubleheader 5-4 when the Cardinals scored three runs in the eighth. Chicago rallied for five runs in the seventh to tie the second game before the Cardinals won 8-6 in 10 innings.
“We keep putting ourselves in positions to win,” said Chicago’s Andrew Benintendi, whose grand slam keyed the seventh-inning rally. “Just keep working on it, I guess. Really just trying to keep going, putting ourselves in that position, and at some point, it will turn.”
Said White Sox manager Will Venable: “Every time we hit a tough spot, they flush it and take what they can from it to make them better for next time and just continue to fight. That’s what we did today, all day, and that’s what we’ll continue to do tomorrow.”
–Field Level Media
