Rampaging Blue Jays extend win streak to 10, one shy of matching club record

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The Blue Jays now find themselves on the cusp of making franchise history.

Not since the days of Joey Bats, The Bringer of Rain and E5 have the Jays won 11 games in a row, a feat the latest edition of the club can match if victory is achieved Wednesday at Chicago’s Rate Field, home of the lowly White Sox. The 2015 team led by Jose Bautista, Josh Donaldson and Edwin Encarnacion twice strung together win streaks of 11 games, but the enduring memory was an appearance in the ALCS and losing to the eventual World Series champion Kansas City Royals in six games.

In total, five times in club history has an 11-game win streak been produced.

Ultimately, however, the 2025 iteration will be defined by post-season success and not any in-season achievement. So far, so very good for the Blue Jays, who won their 10th in a row Tuesday night with a rain-delayed 6-1 victory.

It seems the only way to stop the Jays involves the fickle hand of Mother Nature. With two outs in the seventh inning and Nathan Lukes at the plate, the heavens opened up and the tarp came out as the game went into a rain delay.

“Weather is expected to remain in the area for an hour,” per the White Sox. That forecast was just off the plate, though, and the game would be called.

Toronto’s win improved its record to 54-38 as it maintained a 3.5-game lead on the victorious New York Yankees atop the AL East. The Tampa Bay Rays, meanwhile, lost again to the Detroit Tigers and have fallen to 5.0 games off the pace.

The following are three takeaways as the Jays are assured of a series win against a White Sox team that handed Toronto a rare series loss two weeks ago at the Rogers Centre.

1. Bassitt battles

Chris Bassitt’s line in the night’s boxscore showed the wily right-hander gave up one run in six innings, allowing four hits and a walk to improve his record to 9-4 and lower his ERA to 4.16.

In reality, it wasn’t quite as easy as it looked. He gave up a double to leadoff man Mike Tauchman, then hit Lenyn Sosa with a pitch.

One inning later, a leadoff walk and a single had Chisox runners at first and second with one out.

In both frames, things looked pretty bleak for the veteran, whom the White Sox seemed to have on the ropes. However, it was a relieved Bassitt who gladly watched the defence behind him turn double plays to escape both jams.

Following two three-up, three-down frames, a third double play was turned to end the fifth as Bassitt continued to keep the South Siders scoreless.

The lone run against came on his second pitch of the sixth, a leadoff homer by Josh Rojas, the 13th long ball he’s given up this season.

2. Davis didn’t buck the trend

Things have been going so well for the Jays that the decision to start Davis Schneider, knowing a right-hander — Aaron Civale — was on the mound wasn’t even an issue.

During this recent run by the Jays, so many players, including Schneider, have taken turns stepping up, whether it’s early, in late-game situations or in extra innings.

In the past, Schneider’s inclusion in the lineup was dependent on the opposition throwing a left-hander at the Jays. But left, right, the way the Jays have been swinging the bat, it didn’t matter.

In his first at-bat, Schneider, batting ninth, went deep on a full-count pitch to give the Jays a 1-0 lead, a leadoff blast in the third inning. It was his fourth home run of the season and third in his past six games following his most recent recall from triple-A Buffalo.

It was the only hit he’d get on the night, though he did make solid contact on a loud out to deep left field off lefty Tyler Gilbert in his final at-bat.

3. Maybe hitting is contagious

The Jays’ ability to produce offence 1-through-9 down the batting order has manifested itself recently with several momentum-shifting multi-run innings.

Such was the case, again, on Tuesday night when they broke open a scoreless game with five runs in the third inning.

Lukes followed Schneider’s leadoff homer with a flyout, but then the next five Jays all reached base. George Springer — on base all four times after going 0-for-5 on Monday — walked. Vlad Guerrero Jr. doubled, Bo Bichette singled, Addison Barger doubled and Alejandro Kirk singled to make it 4-0. The final run of the frame came home on a Joey Loperfido fielder’s-choice groundout.

Vladdy plated the sixth run in the sixth inning, his single to left scoring Lukes, but was thrown out on an ill-advised attempt to stretch it into a double.

Up next

The revelation that is LHP Eric Lauer will add another layer in Wednesday’s series finale (2:10 p.m. first pitch); Jays are 6-0 in Lauer’s past six outings, He threw a season-high 94 pitches in his most recent start against the visiting L.A. Angels … Jays will be looking to record their third straight series sweep.