Blue Jays use long balls to secure a series split in Tampa

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Toronto Blue Jays, who emerged from a season-defining stretch that included 16 of 21 games against the Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles with a 10-6 record, are driving with a firm grip on the best wildcard Seat home and a playoff seat clinch is imminent.

Their magic number is down to four after a 7-1 win Sunday at Tropicana Field, the soulless circus tent where so many Blue Jays dreams died, a four-game weekend and an Orioles setback against the Houston Astros secured .

Alejandro Kirk opened the second by rocking a 97 mph fastball from AL All-Star starter Shane McClanahan over the left wall while George Springer took the left deep in both the third and fifth innings and denied with a second straight win Way after three straight headed losses.

Teoscar Hernandez added a two-run shot in the eighth and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. an RBI single in the ninth, aiding five innings of shutout with hard contact but little damage from Ross Stripling and four frames of clean relief in front of a crowd of 16,394.

“We’re about where we wanted to be,” said interim manager John Schneider. “The last two games have been very big, to state the obvious. But we’ve put ourselves in a position to keep trying to win streaks, to keep putting ourselves in a position that we’re in a good position going into the postseason. It’s nice to see the guys grind and it’s been a tough schedule. It’s no time to rest. They have two other good teams playing at home and finishing with another good team in Baltimore. It’s nice that they continue to have that spirit of winning series.”

At 86-67, the Blue Jays were two games ahead of the Rays (84-69) at the top of the wildcard race and 2.5 games ahead of the Seattle Mariners (83-69), who held a nine-round lead in a 13- 12 defeat in Kansas City. The Orioles (79-73), who lost 6-3 in 11 innings to Houston, are another four games behind.

The Blue Jays were in a much more precarious position before beginning that grueling run, going into a doubleheader in Baltimore on Sept. 5 that left both the Mariners and Rays in wildcard standings by just 1.5 Games ahead of the Orioles for the third and final game lay spot.

A sweep of that double count put them on a 13-8 run that included a 5-2 against the Orioles and a 5-4 run against the Rays – their perennial nemesis – that helped reset the rankings and seemingly establish themselves the consistency they’ve been looking for all season.

“Just understand that we can do it as a team, you can play in these high-stakes games, you understand what it takes,” Springer said of what the Blue Jays have accomplished. “At this point in the year everything counts. It’s not a series. It’s not another series. It’s about playing good baseball all the time. And for the past few months or so, this has been a team that’s at least been able to play good baseball.

Nine games remain, starting with the first of three against the New York Yankees on Monday night. Excluding the five-game losses from last Sunday through Friday, that series would have put at least one run on the AL East in the spectrum of possibilities.

Instead, the Yankees will arrive on the brink of the division title and let the Blue Jays play for home field advantage in the wild card round, where they could very well face the Rays again.

Bouncing back to earn a split on trop this year and finishing 4-5 – they were 5-5 against the Rays at Rogers Center – should help them arm themselves for another meeting against a rival who followed her through all 19 meetings.

“It’s a tough place to play,” Stripling said. “They play their brand of baseball and make you come to them. We lose the first two here and then we can get away with a fraction of the crunch time. Just a resilient team through and through, drawing on the experience of the last two years and ready to make some serious noise in October, that’s what it feels like.”

McClanahan had been tough on the Blue Jays in the past, allowing just six earned runs in 26.1 innings in five previous starts, but giving up a career-high three homers in his five innings Sunday.

That assist came after Stripling dodged damage in a first inning that contained four balls put into play at 98.8 mph or harder. He quelled hard contact from there, letting just a double fly from Taylor Walls and a casualty from Randy Arozarena in the third in the next four innings.

A brilliant pick from third baseman Matt Chapman on an Isaac Paredes chopper with men on the corners to finish the third also helped.

Zach Pop, Adam Cimber, Trevor Richards and Yusei Kikuchi each threw an inning to end things.

“We’re slowing things down a bit,” Springer said. “Obviously the end is near. Everyone understands that, so there’s a pretty big sense of urgency. But there is no panic. You just have to go about your day, understand what needs to be done, play, and we’ll see what happens.

An approach that has led them to the brink of the playoffs after their toughest test of the year.