Schneider: Blue Jays at-bats ‘getting better’

The Blue Jays defeated the Tigers 9-1 Thursday in their series opener in Detroit, with Toronto picking up their fourth victory in five games.

An offence that has struggled much of the season is showing signs of improvement, with the Jays scoring nine runs in three of their past four games.

“Our at-bats have been getting better,” manager John Schneider said after Thursday’s win. “I think the approach is shifting and we're doing a better job of grinding through to the third time through.”

Vladimir Guerrero and Bo Bichette each had big nights Thursday, with Guerrero picking up his fifth home run of the season and Bichette collecting three hits, giving him multi-hit games in three of his past four outings.

Bichette’s OPS stood at .527 on May 10. Two weeks later, he’s got that number up to .653 to go along with 20 RBIs. Guerrero has also raised his OPS to .779, the highest it's been since April 1. 

“I was impressed with how we added runs against their bullpen, which is something we've been talking about for a long time,” Schneider said. “It was nice to see the home runs and nice to see the doubles.”

Kevin Gausman struck out 10 batters over six innings Thursday, allowing just one earned run and a total of four baserunners. After a slow start to the season, Gausman has been strong in six of his previous seven outings, bringing his season ERA down to 4.47 after ballooning to north of 11.00 early on.

“He’s all the way built up, right?" Schneider said before the game via MLB.com. “Spring Training was weird. Beginning of the season was weird. I thought he was really good his last outing. But I think, overall, his stuff is where it should be. And I like the intent and the intensity he has right now.”

The Blue Jays and Tigers continue their series from Comerica Park Friday night with Alek Manoah taking the hill against Matt Manning.