George Springer Powers Blue Jays Past Red Sox 6-1

George Springer did not solve every Blue Jays problem on Tuesday.

That would be illegal under several provincial building codes.

But he did drive in three runs in a 6-1 win over the Boston Red Sox, which is more than enough to earn temporary custody of the Feel Good Clipboard.

Toronto’s offence was not a marching band.

It was more like three people with cymbals, a kazoo, and surprisingly good timing.

The Jays had seven hits. They scored six runs. They made no errors. They left five on base.

That is a clean little invoice.

Boston had eight hits and left 13 on base, which is the baseball version of ordering every ingredient and forgetting the sandwich.

The Blue Jays did not need constant pressure. They needed the right swings at the right moments, and for once those moments did not fall into a storm drain.

Springer, Davis Schneider, and Andrés Giménez handled the loud parts.

The rest of us handled the suspicious blinking.

Springer started with paperwork

The first run arrived in the top of the third against Payton Tolle.

It was not dramatic.

It did not require a fog machine.

Springer hit a sacrifice fly to right fielder Wilyer Abreu, and Andrés Giménez scored.

That made it 1-0, which is a lead in the same way a napkin is technically weather protection.

Still, you take it.

You take the sacrifice fly. You take the early run. You take the fact that someone crossed home plate without the broadcast needing to gently explain missed opportunities while we all stare into the carpet.

Springer finished with two hits in three at-bats, one homer, and three RBI.

There are louder lines in baseball history.

There are not many more useful ones in a game where the Blue Jays spent several innings trying to turn a narrow lead into something that did not require a paper bag for breathing.

He began the scoring with a fly ball.

He ended his scoring contribution with a line drive that made the ninth inning feel less like a prank.

Schneider and Giménez opened the cabinet marked noise

The top of the fifth was the part where the Blue Jays stopped whispering.

Payton Tolle was still pitching, and Davis Schneider homered on a fly ball to left field.

Then Andrés Giménez homered on a fly ball to center field.

Two swings. Two more runs. A 3-0 lead.

Not safe, exactly.

Blue Jays safe is a fictional category, like silent leaf blowers or a calm group chat.

But it was better.

Schneider’s game did not stop there. In the top of the sixth, with Tommy Kahnle pitching, he doubled on a fly ball to center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela. Kazuma Okamoto scored, and Nathan Lukes moved to third.

Schneider finished with two hits in four at-bats, one homer, and two RBI.

That is a tidy night.

That is a man walking into the lineup with a lunch pail and leaving with several small fires behind him.

Giménez finished with two hits in four at-bats, one homer, and one RBI. He also scored the first run on Springer’s sacrifice fly.

This is the good kind of involvement.

The kind where your name keeps appearing in the scoring plays and nobody needs to say the word almost.

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The quiet bats were allowed to ride along

This was not a full-lineup demolition.

Let us be honest, because the box score is sitting right there wearing glasses.

Ernie Clement went 0-for-5. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went 0-for-4. Alejandro Kirk went 0-for-4. Myles Straw went 0-for-3. Kazuma Okamoto went 0-for-2.

That is a lot of empty pockets.

Nobody needs to be mean about it. Baseball is hard, and also occasionally a haunted vending machine that refuses your perfectly good coin.

The funny part is that Straw and Okamoto still appeared in scoring events.

Okamoto scored on Schneider’s sixth-inning double.

Straw scored on Springer’s ninth-inning homer.

You do not always need a shiny batting line to end up on the scoreboard. Sometimes you simply need to be in the right place when someone else locates the big red button.

Nathan Lukes had one hit in four at-bats, and he moved to third on Schneider’s double.

So, yes, the offence was uneven.

It was also enough.

The Jays scored in the third, fifth, sixth, and ninth. They did not score in the first, second, fourth, seventh, or eighth.

That is not a relentless attack.

That is a raccoon finding four unlocked windows.

Still counts.

The ninth inning tucked everyone in

The bottom of the eighth got annoying, because of course it did.

Jarren Duran homered off Tommy Nance on a line drive to center field, giving Boston its only run.

A 4-1 game is still a game. A 4-1 game can still look at you funny. A 4-1 game can still knock on the door holding a clipboard labeled Bullpen Feelings.

Then the top of the ninth arrived.

Ryan Watson pitching. Springer homered on a line drive to left center. Myles Straw scored.

The Blue Jays led 6-1.

Everyone’s shoulders descended from their ears by approximately one emotional floor.

Dylan Cease had already done the heavy lifting with 5.0 innings, no earned runs, and seven strikeouts. Toronto’s pitchers combined for 12 strikeouts and one earned run. Louis Varland, Jeff Hoffman, and Tyler Rogers each had no earned runs on their lines.

That pitching gave the bats room to be selective with their chaos.

The standings still say 35-38, .479, third in the division, 5-5 over the last ten, W1.

So let us not pretend one win has rebuilt the whole shed.

But Tuesday was useful.

Springer drove in three. Schneider drove in two. Giménez homered. Cease held the game upright.

The Blue Jays beat Boston 6-1.

For one night, the machine accepted the coin.