TORONTO — The Blue Jays have outlasted the Red Sox again, staring them in the eye and refusing to blink first. Wednesday’s 6-4 victory was another act of strategic stubbornness, lasting until the Red Sox collapsed. That rift came in the bottom of the eighth, when Willson Contreras dropped a single fly ball into foul territory, and Kazuma Okamoto made him pay for it on the next pitch. That’s when the Blue Jays finally broke down the door. “I was given another opportunity right there,” Okamoto said through interpreter Yusuke Oshima. “I was able to regroup. I wanted to at least move the runners, so I was glad I took the big hit right there.” Toronto has now won the first three games of this series against the Red Sox, giving them a chance for a sweep tomorrow. Momentum is no longer quietly building, but is already here. “Maybe the baseball gods are changing their minds about us after about 10 months,” manager John Schneider said. Here’s what mattered most: 1. A rash in the eighth. After Contreras dropped Okamoto’s fly ball into foul territory just behind the plate, the Japanese slugger took advantage of the next pitch he saw to left field to bring home the go-ahead run. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., lunging toward the plate on the dramatic slide, looked as energized as he has all season. A bases-loaded walk by Ernie Clement and an RBI on a sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter George Springer faded, but the big hit finally came from Myles Straw with a two-run double in the gap. Straw has been playing great baseball lately, and this is exactly what this lineup needs: contributions from one to nine. Forget five runs in an inning, this team has spent much of 2026 struggling to score five runs in a game. That was the loudest we’ve heard at the Rogers Center in a long time. “There are some young people who bring some energy and some who have some things to prove,” Schneider said. “That rubs off on everyone. It’s a good feeling right now.” This is the version of Soriano that the Blue Jays bet on when they sent the Angels a package headlined by No. 2 prospect Arjun Nimmala at the trade deadline. Dylan Cease is still the ace of the staff, which he will be for years to come, but Soriano could be a legitimate No. 2 starter in a strong rotation, capable of winning games on his own. Wednesday’s six innings in which one run was allowed was an example of this. “That was amazing,” Soriano said after his home debut. “It was amazing, those fans. I came here to do my best.” Consider this “Phase 1” of the Blue Jays’ work with Soriano. You’ll see some surface-level adjustments that are easy to make on the fly, such as an increase in the use of sinkers and a decrease in the use of four-seams. The Blue Jays also believe their catchers will offer Soriano significant help, and all the data backs that up with Alejandro Kirk and Brandon Valenzuela coming out much stronger than the catchers Soriano worked with on the Angels. “He has a very slow heart rate,” Schneider said. “He was really good, he was in control and he’s gotten used to what we talked about, just trying to get his stuff in the zone. He did it.” Next spring, Soriano and the Blue Jays can take a step back and work on some fine details or modify his delivery. For now, Soriano is fine, and they’ll need him to pitch like that if they have any hope of competing for the Wild Card in the American League. This is not the first time you read this. The Blue Jays need to hit for more power, and until they do, the margins will remain incredibly tight. So even with this recent stretch and new momentum, every day feels like a stressful one-race battle. The Blue Jays make a lot of contact… but they hit a lot of singles. “If you had nine guys who could run like [Brett] Bateman, that’s probably a really good thing,” Schneider said. “There probably needs to be a little more of an extra-base hit combination there. That has been a big difference. I don’t want to compare last year to this year, but there’s been a big difference where you can generate some offense quickly. Singles are great…when combined with some doubles or home runs.”
