Surging Blue Jays beat host Cardinals to move season-high 7 games above .500

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The Blue Jays have ventured into rarefied air, occupying a space not many expected when the team’s offence was virtually non-existent earlier in the season.

How times have changed … and how the team’s fortunes have dramatically taken a sudden turn.

Following Tuesday’s 10-9 victory over the host St. Louis Cardinals that assured the Jays their fifth successive series win, the club climbed seven games above .500 (37-30) for the first time this season.

Seventh heaven has a nice ring to it.

Mind you, it got pretty hellish in the late innings when Toronto’s bullpen nearly blew it.

Here are three takeaways on a night the hot-hitting Alejandro Kirk kept up his prowess at the plate by going deep for the second time in as many games, and when relievers Chad Green and Jeff Hoffman each gave up homers on their respective first pitches.

1. Big 3-peat

One of these days, the Jays’ top of the rotation will need some kind of infusion of big-league talent.

Until that day arrives, and it won’t happen anytime soon, Jose Berrios, Chris Bassitt and Kevin Gausman need to be on point.

Berrios got the ball rolling in the series opener.

Bassitt picked up where Berrios left off in Tuesday’s outing, at least through the opening three innings.

Given a 4-0 advantage when he faced the Cards in the home half of the fourth inning, Bassitt faced his first real stressful situation as St. Louis had runners on the corner with one out.

A long single scored the Cards’ first run. A home run into the seats in right field scored three as the game was suddenly tied.

Bassitt was labouring in an inning that featured four hits yielded and a hit batter. After the Jays regained the lead in a two-run fifth inning, Bassitt retired the Cards in order in the bottom half. Another clean inning followed.

For the first time this season, Bassitt  produced back-to-back starts of throwing seven complete innings. Toronto’s Big 3 is clearly living up to the billing.

2. Captain Clutch

Whether the situation involves two strikes in the count or two outs, Kirk has been among the very best in the bigs. When a late-game hit with so much at stake is required, Kirk often comes through in dramatic fashion. And to think there were those who were taken aback when the club locked in Kirk through the 2030 season.

His five-year deal worth US $58 million, which kicks in next season, now seems like a steal. You could argue Kirk will be underpaid if he’s able to keep up this current pace of excellence, especially when compared to a certain $500-million teammate who hasn’t had nearly as many moments this season than Kirk.

It’s been go so well for Kirk that any ball off his bat is liable to find a hole.

Such was the case in his first at-bat off Cards starter Miles Mikolas when a softly hit ball landed in no-man’s land in shallow centre field.

There was nothing soft about the ball Kirk sent deep into the seats in the seventh inning, a two-run blast to give him six hits in two games. Hit No. 7 came with out in the ninth inning on a single.

Time to book his spot in this year’s all-star game.

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3. Andres the giant

His days with the Blue Jays began with a bang when Andres Gimenez went deep three times within a five-game span to surprisingly seize the club lead in homers. He then endured a very tough stretch that culminated with a stint on the injured list.

Since his return, Gimenez has played his customary stellar defence at second base. At the plate, his ability to lay down a bunt is clinical, and he even produced hits out of the ninth hole.

Tuesday, he moved up in the order and made an immediate presence by launching a three-run homer to give the Jays a very early 3-0 lead.

Don’t expect Gimenez to hit fifth in the order, but he should be moved up during times when he is making solid contact, which he has been of late. Gimenez’s blast was his first belt since March 31. Gimenez knocked in the Jays’ ninth run to give him a four-RBI night. He entered the game with 10 RBI on the season.

Toronto’s lineup did have a different look in the wake of Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s scheduled day off and the last-minute removal of Nathan Lukes (neck discomfort). Enter Alan Roden.

Roden knocked in a run on an opposite-field single in the fourth to give the Jays a 4-0 lead.

Toronto’s outfield featured Myles Straw in centre field, Roden in right and Jonatan Clase in left.

Clase received a smattering of boos in his first plate appearance, a sure sign the kid is coming of age.

Fans were fully aware of Clase’s critical home run in the ninth inning one night earlier that tied the game to set the stage for the Jays’ extra-innings win.

“He’s just dripping with potential,’’ manager John Schneider would remark.

Up next

Series finale will feature a combination of Eric Lauer and Spencer Turnbull with the exact pitching order yet to be determined; observers of the Blue Jays have seen Lauer and should be familiar with his ability to get outs, albeit in a brief window; Turnbull has been around the baseball block, but he has never appeared in a game for the Blue Jays; in his last appearance in the minors, he didn’t overwhelm anyone; Wednesday’s 2:15 p.m. first pitch features Cards LHP Matthew Liberatore (3-5, 3.82 ERA).