Blue Jays Clutch Plays: Varland's Escape, McAdoo's Double

The Blue Jays fell just short of a weekend sweep against the Yankees, and they even had the chance to complete a four-game sweep of the Red Sox on Thursday. They couldn't finish the job either time, but a 5-2 week against a couple of (very likely) playoff-bound AL East rivals at home has kept their post-deadline fire burning. This team may still sit four games below .500, but the AL logjam has them just one game out of a playoff spot heading into a week that sees them travel to St. Pete and the Bronx.

Pitching

3. Chase Lee: Andruw Monasterio GIDP, Top 6, 8/11 (+11.0% WPA)

Chase Lee was optioned after giving up a grand slam in Thursday's finale against Boston, but not before he got a big couple of outs in the sixth inning on Tuesday night. After Jarren Duran's leadoff single, he found himself in a 1-1 count against Andruw Monasterio, who got jammed by a sweeper in on his hands and rolled it just to the left of second base. Ernie Clement did the rest himself.

2. Louis Varland: Nick Sogard Groundout, Top 9, 8/10 (+13.6% WPA)

The Jays' lights-out closer notched his 25th save early this week, the latest milestone in his unbelievable season. With the tying run 90 feet away and the count full, Louis Varland whipped a 100-mph fastball up in the zone and slightly inside. Nick Sogard did a good job to get to the ball, hitting it sharply to first base, but Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was as sure-handed as ever, taking it to the bag to seal the win.

1. Louis Varland: Andruw Monasterio Strikeout, Top 9, 8/10 (+14.0% WPA)

More pivotal than the final out was the strikeout that Varland got just one batter earlier. Monasterio was on the wrong end of another big moment for the pitching staff this week after failing to come through with a man on third and one out while facing a one-run deficit in the ninth. Varland got him to wave on a nasty knuckle curve in the dirt for a big strikeout.

Hitting

3. Alejandro Kirk: RBI Double, Bot 6, 8/14 (+17.3% WPA)

Alejandro Kirk has come around in the second half, and he had himself a night on Friday against New York. It began in the sixth when, with two outs and a man on second, he got a hanging slider from Gerrit Cole. He laced it all the way to the wall in left field, scoring George Springer with ease and giving the Jays a lead that Kirk himself would eventually add to in the eighth with a homer.

2. Charles McAdoo: RBI Double, Bot 7, 8/15 (+19.0% WPA)

Charles McAdoo had his first signature moment in front of a packed Rogers Centre crowd on Saturday afternoon. Ernie Clement stood on first as the go-ahead run after his leadoff base-hit off Yankees reliever Brent Headrick. McAdoo got a high fastball from Headrick in a hitter's count and didn't miss it, drilling it off the wall on the fly at 107 mph off the bat. Clement came all the way around to score, and the Jays went on to take the game and the series.

1. Kazuma Okamoto: RBI Single, Bot 8, 8/12 (+19.3% WPA)

The Blue Jays clinched their series against the Red Sox thanks to a five-run eighth inning, getting contributions up and down the lineup that would wind up looming large as Boston almost came back in the ninth. Nonetheless, the runs began with Kazuma Okamoto, who turned around a 99.5-mph sinker in a two-strike count and lined it into left-center for a base hit. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. scored on a bang-bang play after a headfirst slide at home, and the offense kept on coming.