Much-improved Springer helps Blue Jays extend win streak with another big game
George Springer’s renaissance has looked more real with each passing week. It was again in focus during the Blue Jays’ 5-3 win over the Guardians on Friday night at Rogers Centre.
TORONTO — George Springer’s struggles last year were well-documented. You know the story: A player in his age-34 season continued a downward trend by producing a .674 OPS that was worse than all but eight qualified hitters in the American League.
You’ve probably also heard that he’s been a different player during the opening month of this campaign. Springer’s renaissance has looked more real with each passing week and was again in focus during the Toronto Blue Jays’ 5-3 win over the Cleveland Guardians on Friday night at Rogers Centre.
Springer impacted the game in almost every way imaginable. In the lineup as the designated hitter, he walked, reached on a catcher’s interference, stole a base, homered and scored two runs, including what stood as the game-winner on Nathan Lukes’s eighth-inning RBI single that brought the 26,087 in attendance to their feet.
It was a complete game from Springer and now, thanks to Blue Jays manager John Schneider, we’ve got a new way to describe what’s going on with the veteran outfielder.
“He’s enjoying playing, he’s enjoying coming here and his at-bat quality has been consistent all year,” Schneider said. “I think Georgie has kind of found some peace and is just going out and playing and trusting in his ability.”
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What exactly does it mean that he’s “found some peace?”
“Last year he got caught up in a lot of different stuff,” said Schneider. “Trying to do too much and then just having one thing leading to another. He carried us for about a month, but wasn’t really there all year. So, finding peace, I think it’s just having a clear mindset, understanding that it’s not going to be perfect every single night and just being really invested in every single at-bat.
“His conversations in between at-bats right now are different than they were last year,” continued the manager. “He’s focusing on the next thing, the next pitch, the next swing. And it just gives you a little bit more freedom that way.”
Springer enjoyed a 22-game span between June and July last year when he hit six doubles and nine home runs, drove in 26 RBIs and slashed .370/.427/.802 — numbers that saved his overall stat line from looking even worse.
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While he never let his struggles show and showed up to the park with the same demeanour every day, Springer says he strayed from himself and sought to adopt a different mindset this season.
“I just kind of got back to who I am as a player,” Springer said following Friday’s win. “And I understand last year was last year and it’s over with. Obviously, we don’t want that to happen. That’s not who I am as a player. But I learned a lot from it. And, here we are.”
Springer drew a key walk that led to the Blue Jays’ 7-6, extra-inning win on Wednesday over the Boston Red Sox and again contributed on the margins in Friday’s win. Of course, his 105.3-m.p.h. solo homer to centre field off Guardians starter Logan Allen warrants attention, but it was his seven-pitch at-bat that resulted in a walk to lead off the eighth that paved the way for the Blue Jays to rally.
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Springer swiped second for his fifth stolen base of the season and then advanced to third on Alejandro Kirk’s single off Guardians reliever Jakob Junis before scoring on Lukes’s hard single to right.
On the season, Springer is now hitting .314/.423/.523 with three homers, seven doubles and a team-leading 17 walks. He credited Blue Jays hitting coach David Popkins and assistants Lou Iannotti and Hunter Mense for helping him at the plate, but also said he’s taking pride in the little things, too.
“It goes back to something that [John] Schneider says, [associate manager] DeMarlo [Hale] says every day: Just do something to help the team win. Obviously, one swing of the bat can help but being able to walk can help, getting hit by a pitch or scoring a run [can help]. So, I don’t think there’s only one way to help the team. And it’s my job to do as many things as I can to help us win.”
Friday’s victory was the Blue Jays’ third in a row and helped the club move back to .500 (15-16).
Leading up to Lukes’s hit, it was a back-and-forth affair, as the Guardians lived up to their reputation as a pesky team.
Cleveland first baseman Carlos Santana, a certified Blue Jays nemesis, opened the scoring with a solo homer in the second inning, his third career shot off Blue Jays’ starter Chris Bassitt. The Blue Jays took the lead in the third on Kirk’s two-run single, but the Guardians tied the game in the next frame on Bo Naylor’s solo homer — a 106.2-m.p.h. drive over the centre-field fence by the Canadian.
Springer gave the Blue Jays another lead in the fifth with his homer but then the Guardians knotted the score on Santana’s RBI single against a drawn-in infield after a hard-fought at-bat against Bassitt. That spelled the end for the Blue Jays right-hander, who allowed three runs on seven hits over 5.1 innings, striking out four and walking none.
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With the Blue Jays’ offence awakening of late, Bassitt said it’s on the team’s rotation “to give them a chance to score like they did tonight,” adding that it’s been a point of conversation among starters.
“Don’t worry about anything but just three runs or less,” Bassitt said. “It’s just giving ourselves a chance, not putting more pressure than needed on us. Quality start, go get it. You don’t got to be perfect. This offence is good enough. Quality starts are going to win a lot of games so just go do your job.”
The current vibe around the team is a lot different than it was when the Blue Jays endured a recent stretch of eight losses in nine games. Now, with three straight comeback wins, there’s a bit of a renewed feeling.
Or a renaissance, if you will.
“Guys are excited,” said Springer. “I think we’re starting to move the needle, at least in our minds, to know that we can do the types of things that we’ve done the last few days. Obviously, we still have a long road. But to show some fight, to get down and then to not quit is the stuff that it’s going to take in August and September and hopefully in October.”
