If the Toronto Blue Jays played the Chicago White Sox for each of the 162 games on the season schedule, they’d be the best team in baseball history.

On Monday afternoon, the Blue Jays started their second series against the White Sox this week, defeating the worst team in the league by a score of 5-1. Let’s take a look at what happened.

George Springer started in the seventh spot for the Blue Jays in this game, and it immediately paid off for the veteran outfielder, as he hit his fourth home run of the season, and his first in over a month to give the Blue Jays an early 2-0 lead, all they’d need.

That doesn’t mean they stopped scoring though, as Bo Bichette also hit his fourth home run of the season in the top of the fourth inning. After a rough start, it appears that Bichette is starting to turn his season around.

It looked as if the Blue Jays could blow another late lead, as Erik Swanson gave up another home run in a high-leverage situation, this time to Gavin Sheets, making it a 3-1 game. Swanson gave up a single before John Schneider called in Zach Pop, who also gave up a single with two outs, bringing the leading run to the plate. However, Pop got Danny Mendick to flyout.

After Springer hit a lead off single, Davis Schneider would eventually drive both him and Springer in with his sixth home run of the season, giving the Blue Jays a 5-1 lead.

Things worth mentioning….

Chris Bassitt had a terrific start, finishing with a line of 5 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 K to bring his season ERA to 4.03. Over his past two starts, he’s pitched 12 innings without giving up a run, while striking out 11 and walking just two batters. After May 17th’s game, his ERA stood at 5.03, so it’s dropped a full run in these two starts.

Nate Pearson struck out two batters in two innings of work, bringing his season ERA to 4.66. Pearson’s issue in the big leagues continues to be consistency, as he goes stretches of terrific baseball, before getting hit hard in a game. Good to see him pitch well.

Zach Pop wasn’t expected to be a solid bullpen contributor this season, as the Blue Jays bullpen was a strong suit coming into this season. However, injuries forced the team to rely on some of their depth relievers, and Pop has performed well, as he has a 3.65 ERA in 12.1 innings pitched this season while giving up just one walk. He’ll probably be sent down when Chad Green, Yariel Rodríguez, and Bowden Francis return, but it’s nice to know he’s still talented enough to pitch in the big leagues.

George Springer started his season off well, hitting two home runs in the first Blue Jays series this season. However, he only hit one home run between the end of that series and today, all the way back on April 24. This is a good sign that he’s coming around though.

Up next: The Blue Jays have two chances to win the three-game series, with the first chance is on Tuesday at 7:40 PM ET. Kevin Gausman gets the ball for the Blue Jays.

As always, you can follow me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.





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