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Nathan Lukes’ two-run homer opened the scoring in the fifth.

Fastballs

Slippery baseball

A five-run seventh inning was helped in large part by two-time gold glove winner Manny Machado. The San Diego third baseman made back-to-back errors, whiffing on an Ernie Clement grounder and booting a sacrifice bunt attempt by Lukes, allowing the Jays to load the bases with nobody out. Three batters later, Machado threw wide to first on a George Springer grounder, his third error of the inning.

It was contagious. In the ninth, shortstop Jose Iglesias tried a glove-flip to second on a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. grounder and missed. Daulton Varsho hit a grand slam on the next pitch.聽

What price victory?

Anthony Santander went 1-for-3 with a single off the right-field wall, but didn’t come out for his seventh inning at-bat with the bases loaded. He aggravated the left hip injury that has been bothering him for close to a week.

A mystery balk

Gausman was called for a balk in the first inning while getting into his set position with Luis Arraez on second base. The right-hander bounces his left leg three times before coming to a complete stop, then delivering a pitch. Because this is his natural and consistent motion, it’s not a balk. But second-base umpire Adam Hamari didn’t know that, so he threw his hands up and sent Arraez to third with one out.

Gausman popped up Machado and struck out Jackson Merrill to strand Arraez. He was back to his usual bouncy self after Machado doubled in the fourth, but no balks were called.

Mailbag

Rebecca Chesley found me on Bluesky @wilnerness to ask,聽“How do they get the dirt out of their uniforms? Baseball parents everywhere want to know!”

It turns out, Rebecca, that the secret is power. The Blue Jays’ clubhouse attendants use the same pressure washers people use to blast dirt and grime off their backyard decks, just a hand-held version, in order to get the toughest layers of clay off. After that, it’s laundry detergent, a smattering of industrial chemicals and a whole lot of good, old-fashioned elbow grease.

Pitchers, who don’t spend a lot of time sliding around on the dirt, get two pairs of white home uniform pants issued to them. Position players can get anywhere from three to eight, depending on how dirty they tend to get. If they ever wind up ripping their pants, they’ll find a new pair hanging in their locker before the next game.