While Stripling keeps the Blue Jays blueprint intact, Clutch Jansen’s single delivers the win

ARLINGTON, Texas — If it feels like that’s where the Toronto Blue Jays were right last weekend — in a three-game series of chances against a much weaker opponent, they’re trying to improve their pitching for a crucial set against a division rival next week – well, that’s because they were.

Alek Manoah set them up perfectly for the 6-1 week that followed with 7.1 dominant innings in the first set and laid the groundwork for both the bullpen game that defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates the next day and the Combination Kevin Gausman/Jose Berrios swept a Monday doubleheader from the Baltimore Orioles.

The blueprint for a weekend deep in the heart of Texas ahead of next week’s five-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays wasn’t much different for the Blue Jays, who rallied after squandering a late lead to defeat the Texas Rangers on the Beating Friday 4-3 night on Danny Jansen’s RBI single in the ninth.

Raimel Tapia started the decisive rally with a walk, stole second place, moved up to third with Santiago Espinal’s Deep Fly Ball and effortlessly trotted Jansen’s 68.8 mph liner across a retracted infield in front of 21,329 spectators at the cavernous Globe Life Field home.

Jordan Romano then wrapped things up in the ninth, providing six table-setting innings from Ross Stripling and another brilliant night in Bo Bichette’s September Surge — a run-scoring groundout that opened the goal in the first, a two-run homer that some provided needed cushion in the third and a triple failure in the eighth – not lost.

Situational baseball pushed them to 77-60 and ensured they would at least stay level in the wildcard standings pending the outcome of Seattle’s game against Atlanta.

“It’s something we’ve been doing over the past few months to get the small ball effect in,” Jansen said. “Bring the safety bunts over, man second, nobody out, move him over … the little bits of baseball that’s huge.” That one inning, with Tapias going and stealing and Espinal passing him, shows you how important that little ball is.”

Still, it was Stripling who did his usual hands-on work, keeping the club’s pitching plans on track for a grueling stretch of 11 games in 10 days, even after surmounting the last three frames proved harder than anticipated.

“That was perfect,” said pitching coach Pete Walker. “If we had scored a few more runs, (Stripling) probably would have stayed in (longer), but obviously our bullpen was rested. That puts us in a great starting (Saturday) game with Gaus and then a bullpen day, possibly Sunday and then into next week. It’s kind of a grind at the moment, a lot of games in a short amount of time. And every time a starter gets deep into the game, it gives us a big opportunity the next day.”

The Blue Jays went one more reliever than planned when Adam Cimber hit two outs in the seventh time, but it took Yimi Garcia to save him from a runners-on-the-corners jam. Garcia then left a third-place runner with one in eighth for Tim Mayza, who gave Corey Seager a game-winning RBI double before getting Nathaniel Lowe and Jonah Heim to finish the frame, with Romano later making the save No . 32 collected.

“Whenever you can get deep into the game, it aligns the bullpen for the next day and the day after, so quality starts are huge, it’s huge to get guys in the right spots,” said interim manager John Schneider. “Strip definitely did that tonight.”

Adam Cimber made two outs in seventh place but needed Yimi Garcia to save him from a runner-on-the-corner jam, while Garcia left a third-place runner with an eighth-place out for Tim Mayza, who a game tie gave up RBI double against Corey Seager before Nathaniel Lowe and Jonah Heim finished the frame.

Gausman starts Saturday and the deeper he goes the easier it will be for the Blue Jays to host another bullpen game in Sunday’s series finale. That would allow them to push back Jose Berrios in Monday’s opener against the Rays, with Alek Manoah earmarked for one of the games in Tuesday’s day-night doubleheader. Mitch White is a contestant, returning as the 29th man from Taxi Squad to start the other, while Stripling and Gausman handle the remainder of this series.

The Blue Jays would need to find a starter for Friday’s second leg against the Orioles but would have Berrios and Manoah for the weekend.

Finding that out is important as the line-up took a hit when Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was forced onto the injured list with a left hamstring strain. He could not return until Sunday’s final against the Orioles at the earliest, although interim manager John Schneider said he was “not entirely sure” Gurriel would be ready in time, adding: “There’s a chance it might take longer I think. But we will know more after the first 10 days how he reacts and move on from there.

The Blue Jays will get a boost on Saturday when Teoscar Hernandez returns from paternity leave, and anything the offense can do to ease the strain on the pitching staff will be welcomed.

Still, in the midst of a season-defining phase, the Blue Jays will still need all hands on deck, regardless of opponent, whether they’re bottom-feeders like the Pirates and Rangers or post-season rivals like the Orioles and Rays .

“I mean, it’s fun,” Jansen said of that high-leverage run. “That’s the baseball you gotta get through them. We’re okay overall, so what better way than to just play each other and see what happens, right? That’s definitely our thought, take each game individually. We know how important they are, but we don’t stress ourselves out, we don’t put too much pressure on ourselves. Just go out and have fun.”