Toronto Blue Jays at Houston Astros

The odds are stacked heavily against them, but the Blue Jays aren’t lying down following the Trade Deadline. Wednesday’s 5-4 win over the Astros in extra innings gave them a series win over the AL West leaders, powered by Ernie Clement’s 10th-inning blast. The Blue Jays still have a mountain to climb, but if they’re going to do it, it has to start somewhere. This is what mattered most: **1\. Ernie Clement comes up big in extras** What a swing from Clement, who turned on the first pitch he saw in the top of the 10th and launched a no-doubter over the wall in left. These are exactly the types of swings the Blue Jays need more of, game-breakers that can wipe away their problems in an instant. Hunter Brown carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before Myles Straw broke it up with a double, continuing his best stretch of the season. Jesús Sánchez followed that up with a big, two-run shot to right, and the Blue Jays will be looking for more of that from him in August and September. “It’s been consistently inconsistent for a lot of this year,” manager John Schneider said. “Not just individuals, but as a group, too. Knowing who we have here, we’re trying to figure out a way where we can generate some offense. We’re not saying, ‘Hey, Myles Straw, come hit 10 home runs in the month of August.’ It’s about using everyone’s skills to figure out the best way to do that.” So many of the Blue Jays’ problems can be solved by power. The quickest path to that is a resurgence from Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who was left out of Wednesday’s starting lineup as he deals with some hamstring tightness, but the Blue Jays’ power outage has crept through their entire lineup. If this team is going to pull off a miracle run down the stretch, it needs to take big swings and big risks. Wednesday was a great example of how one big swing can make you forget about the other hundred swings in a game.