Blue Jays Win Streak Runs Into Paul Skenes

The Blue Jays have won three in a row, which is lovely and also illegal in several provinces of the fan brain.

The standings say W3.

The standings also say 24-27, .471, third in the division, and last ten at 6-4, so please do not start pricing parade confetti unless it is refundable.

Still, Friday was nice.

Toronto beat Pittsburgh 6-2 at home. It was tidy. It was almost adult. The kind of win that wears a collared shirt and returns the shopping cart.

And now Saturday arrives with the Pirates still here, Patrick Corbin listed for Toronto, and Paul Skenes listed for Pittsburgh.

That is not a pitching matchup.

That is a rake lying in the grass.

The Blue Jays are carrying hope into a Paul Skenes game like a birthday cake through a dog park.

Friday did its best impression of order

The Pirates scored first on Friday, because the Blue Jays cannot simply open a pleasant evening without leaving a shoe in the hallway.

In the top of the first, Spencer Horwitz hit a sacrifice fly to center off Kevin Gausman. Brandon Lowe scored. Pittsburgh led 1-0.

Reasonable start to the usual home renovation project.

Then the Blue Jays answered in the bottom of the third.

Daulton Varsho reached on a fielder’s choice against Bubba Chandler, with a throwing error by Horwitz helping the inning turn into a small administrative crisis. George Springer scored. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went to third. Varsho went to second.

Then Yohendrick Piñango doubled to right, scoring Guerrero and Varsho.

Toronto led 3-1.

It was clear. It was useful. It did not require anyone at home to draw arrows on a napkin and whisper, wait, whose run is that?

The bottom of the eighth added the comfortable padding, which is the rarest padding in Blue Jays baseball because it is usually made of tissue paper.

Jesús Sánchez doubled to right off Dennis Santana, scoring Ernie Clement. Then Springer hit a ground-rule double down the right-field line, scoring Myles Straw and Brandon Valenzuela.

That made it 6-2 after Pittsburgh had picked up a run in the top of the eighth on a Bryan Reynolds groundout with Louis Varland pitching.

Simple enough.

Suspiciously simple, honestly.

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The box score wore a fake moustache

Toronto scored six runs on five hits.

This is not a complaint.

This is just the kind of math that makes a Jays fan check under the couch cushions for missing innings.

The Blue Jays had no errors. Pittsburgh had two. Toronto left nine on base and still won by four runs, which feels like finding out your smoke alarm also makes pancakes.

Springer had a hit and two RBIs. Piñango had a hit and two RBIs. Sánchez had a hit and an RBI. Guerrero had a hit. Clement had a hit.

Nobody needed to pretend this was a 208-run season summary wearing a crown.

It was a good baseball game.

Gausman logged 6.2 innings with one earned run and eight strikeouts. Varland’s line showed 2.0 innings, no earned runs, and three strikeouts. Mason Fluharty recorded 0.1 innings with one earned run.

The pitching totals were eleven strikeouts and two earned runs.

Again: good.

Put the win in the fridge.

Just do not put it beside the milk and start calling it a lifestyle.

And now, naturally, Paul Skenes

This is where the trap opens and reveals carpeting.

The Blue Jays are on a three-game winning streak. They just beat the Pirates 6-2. They are at home. The last ten says 6-4. The mood is not good exactly, but it is no longer making eye contact with the floor.

Then the probable pitcher list taps the microphone.

Paul Skenes for Pittsburgh.

Patrick Corbin for Toronto.

There it is.

The sentence that turns cautious optimism into a workplace safety video.

No one needs to invent a scouting report here. The assignment is obvious enough. Toronto’s offence, through 51 games, is at 208 runs, 4.08 runs per game, a .241 batting average, a .675 OPS, and 45 home runs.

That is an offence that can absolutely win a game.

It is also an offence you do not leave alone with a locked door and a pitcher named Paul Skenes.

Friday’s six runs came in useful clumps. Three in the third. Three in the eighth. That is a healthy way to live.

Saturday may require the same kind of practical nonsense.

Traffic. Pressure. Productive swings. Anything that does not involve waiting for the baseball gods to send a certified letter.

Corbin and the tiny helmet of belief

Patrick Corbin’s job is not to defeat the emotional internet.

It is to give Toronto a game with walls.

Keep it close enough for the lineup to find a gap. Keep the Pirates from turning the afternoon into one of those broadcasts where everyone begins discussing tomorrow with suspicious enthusiasm.

That is the preview.

Not doom.

Not destiny.

Just a classic Blue Jays mood trap: win three straight, feel your shoulders unclench, then immediately get handed a Saturday card that says Paul Skenes in neat terrifying font.

Enjoy the streak.

Enjoy Friday’s 6-2.

Enjoy the fact that the Jays have won 1 of 1 against Pittsburgh in this series, which is technically perfect and emotionally useless.

But keep the little helmet on.

Hope is allowed in the building.

It just needs to sign the waiver.