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Some of the players who left the dugout for high-fives were wearing blue October Baseball T-shirts with the Jays logo, but the celebration was nothing out of the ordinary.

Until they got to the clubhouse.聽

Manager John Schneider addressed the team, praising their selflessness and telling players that while this is only the first step toward what they hope to accomplish, it’s something worth celebrating.

Then the champagne bottles popped, celebrating their third post-season berth in four years and fourth in six. The last time the Jays actually won a playoff game was 2016.

As much as the post-game party was a massive release, the second inning was a bigger one.

Davis Schneider led it off聽with a walk, then Nathan Lukes beat out a double-play grounder to second. Ernie Clement hit a soft single to right. A wild pitch moved the runners to second and third for Andr茅s Gim茅nez, who singled to cash Lukes and open the scoring.

Heineman was next, and the backup catcher dropped down a perfect safety squeeze bunt to score Clement. George Springer followed with a hustle double up the middle, driving in Gim茅nez.

It was a run-of-the-mill three-run inning, and so much more than that.

In that frame, the Jays scored as many runs as they had over their entire four-game losing streak. They got multiple hits in the same inning for the first time since Tuesday. They had five at-bats with runners in scoring position in that second inning alone, including two hits, after only five at-bats with runners in scoring position over their past four games.

There would be more.

• A three-run fifth after the Royals had cut the lead to one run in the fourth, featuring a two-run wall-ball double by Vladimir Guerrero Jr., his first extra-base hit in two weeks.
• A two-run rally in the eighth to get some breathing room after K.C. had again scraped back to within one, featuring a Clement RBI single and Gim茅nez’s first triple as a Blue Jay.

It was an offensive performance that looked very familiar, the kind that helped the Jays reach the top of the American League East 鈥� still by two games over the New York Yankees 鈥斅燼nd one that allowed the team to exhale.

Oh, and the fans, too.

Despite all the gnashing of teeth and rending of garments, despite a starting rotation in disarray, the Jays got on a plane back to 海角社区官网after a 3-4 road trip in strong position to take the top seed in the AL and home-field advantage all the way to the World Series, should they get that far.

Jays rookie Trey Yesavage made his second big-league start, but didn’t have the dominant outing the Jays hoped would put him in the driver’s seat for a spot in the playoff rotation.

The 22-year-old right-hander was charged with four runs on five hits while walking three over four innings (plus two batters). He only struck out two after ringing up nine Tampa Bay Rays in his debut, but there were still several positives.

After a leadoff walk to Mike Yastrzemski in the first inning, Yesavage retired 10 batters in a row. In the fourth, however, the Royals loaded the bases聽鈥� including singles on a hard grounder that Addison Barger couldn’t handle at third and a little nubber to the left side聽鈥� leaving Yesavage surrounded by runners for the first time in his big-league career.

Royals rookie Carter Jensen, in just his 14th major-league game, lined the next pitch into right field for a two-run single to cut the lead to 3-2, and Yesavage walked Jac Caglianone to reload the bases.

Left in to work out of the jam, Yesavage got it done, ending with a John Rave grounder to shortstop.

The kid came back out for the fifth, but back-to-back singles聽鈥� the second on one of the worst replay review calls in Jays history, taking a spectacular catch away from centre-fielder聽Daulton Varsho聽鈥� ended his day after 76 pitches.

After a shaky relief outing from Brendon Little,听Seranthony Dom铆nguez, Eric Lauer and Hoffman finished by allowing just one hit over the final 3 1/3 innings.

Step one is done. From last place a year ago to the first AL team to clinch a playoff spot this season. There are several more to go.