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Chris Bassitt got credit for a complete game, allowing four hits in six innings for his team-leading ninth win.

Fastballs

Club record

The win was the Jays’ 54th of the season, the most in club history before the all-star break. But the season starts earlier now than it ever has and the all-star break is often a week later, so the record isn’t as much of an all-timer as it sounds.

The 1985 squad, the first Jays’ team to win an American League East division title, was 53-35. The 1992 team, the first to win a World Series, was 53-34. The 2025 Jays are 54-38, with another four games to go before the break.

Pitcher’s best friend

Bassitt had to deal with some traffic early on, with two runners on and one out in each of the first two innings. Both times, he induced a ground ball that was turned into a double play to get out of it.

After a perfect third and fourth, Bassitt again had a runner on with one out in the fifth and again got a ground-ball double play. 

Good times

With the Jays leading 6-1 in the bottom of the sixth, Mike Tauchman hit a pop-up to the right side of the infield. Second baseman Ernie Clement took charge and caught it about a foot to the right of Guerrero.

The next hitter, Lenyn Sosa, also popped up to the right side, but into foul territory wide of first. Guerrero moved to his left to make the easy catch then turned and flashed a big smile at Clement, as if to say “See? I can catch them if you let me.”

Ten-game winning streaks are fun.

Mailbag

Travis Mealing found me on Bluesky @wilnerness to ask: “is hitting .300 still seen as a benchmark in today’s game or is everyone in MLB too enamoured with power to take pride in simple bat-to-ball skill?”

I think that hitting .300 is still seen as a big deal, Travis, but other things are much more important and the game is recognizing that. When I was growing up in the 1980s, everyone knew who won the batting title. Now, not so much.

It was unimaginable in the ‘90s to suggest that Frank Thomas was a better hitter than eight-time batting champion Tony Gwynn, but who would you rather have? I’ll take the guy with the career .974 OPS and 521 homers (Thomas) over the one at .847 with 135 (Gwynn).

For a modern-day comp, would you rather have Luis Arraez, who has won three batting titles in a row, or Aaron Judge, who has never won one (but might this year)?

Heck, doesn’t even list batting average in its top line of players’ career stats.