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Next Up: Different Blue Jays helping Toronto win
TORONTO – The Toronto Blue Jays aren’t just celebrating their season-high eight-game win streak, they’re celebrating how they’ve done it.
Joey Loperfido delivered a key run-producing hit and reliever Ryan Burr registered the win in Toronto’s 3-2 victory over the Angels on Sunday to sweep Los Angeles. Both players made their season debuts in the triumph.
Loperfido was promoted from Triple-A Buffalo to replace an injured Andres Gimenez (ankle). Burr was activated from the 60-day injured list at the same time as he needed the first three months of the season to recover from a right shoulder ailment.
“I think it speaks volumes to the kind of tone and the culture we have here,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “Looking back to last year, we had a revolving door in here, and it was kind of like, ‘All right, who are we? What are we going to do?’
“Now it’s like, ‘this is what we’re doing. Here’s how we’re doing it.’ It’s pretty cool for Joey to join the party as well as Ryan.”
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After Bo Bichette made up for an error in the top of the fourth, he smashed his 12th home run of the season to lead off the bottom of the inning. Later in the fourth, Loperfido singled with two outs to score Myles Straw for a 2-1 lead.
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“I’ve been watching from afar and it looked like a ton of fun,” said Loperfido, who in his pre-game meeting with Schneider discussed the different atmosphere in the Blue Jays’ (52-38) clubhouse.
“There is a looseness and positivity and the fun that comes with a swagger.”
Burr (1-0) took over for starter Kevin Gausman with two outs in the sixth inning and the game tied 2-2. Schneider left it up to Gausman whether to stay in.
But Gausman was gassed after tossing a season-high 107 pitches. Gausman also took on a bit of a manager’s role, feeling Burr’s slider would offset his own splitter as the perfect tonic to keep the Angels (43-46) hitters at bay.
Burr pitched 1 1/3 innings, striking out three of the six batters he faced. His slider struck out Mike Trout, who homered in the first inning, to begin the seventh.
“I thought he did a great job bridging the gap,” Gausman said.
The Blue Jays’ 52 wins is one shy of the club record for victories before the All-Star Game, set in 1985 and matched in 1992.
With three road games apiece against the Chicago White Sox and the Athletics in Sacramento, Calif., the two worst teams in the AL, Toronto should be able to topple the old 53-win mark before the break.
The four-game sweep of the Yankees earlier this week and three more against the Angels have put the Blue Jays in this position.
“We’re gonna enjoy that,” Schneider said. “To win out a homestand, throw in Canada Day, it being a different guy every night, that was pretty cool.
“It would have been easy to have a letdown after the four-game sweep. But to win three one-run games [against the Angels], and to do it in different ways with different people, it was awesome.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 6, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
TORONTO – Blue Jays slugger George Springer has been cleared to return to game action after suffering a concussion over two weeks ago, Toronto manager John Schneider said Wednesday.
The 35-year-old outfielder/designated hitter hasn’t played since July 28 when he was hit in the helmet by a fastball thrown by Baltimore Orioles pitcher Kade Strowd.
Springer, who was on hand for batting practice before Toronto’s game against the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night, was expected to play for the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons on Thursday.
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“Play DH tomorrow and then see if he needs a game in the outfield to see how he feels,” Schneider said in his pre-game availability. “But he’ll be doing that tomorrow.”
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Springer has been one of the top offensive performers this season for the Blue Jays (70-50), who had a 4 1/2-game lead on the Boston Red Sox in the American League East standings entering play Wednesday.
Over 101 games, Springer has a .291 average, 18 homers, 57 RBIs and an on-base and slugging percentage of .889.
Strowd’s 96-m.p.h. pitch appeared to hit Springer’s shoulder before making contact with his helmet near the ear flap. After laying prone for a moment or two, Springer got up slowly and left the field with some assistance.
He was placed on the seven-day concussion injured list on July 29.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 13, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
Two delightfully shaggy new faces will be on display at the Toronto Zoo starting on Friday.
The nine-month-old brothers are Scottish Highland cattle, with long, woolly, reddish coats and fringe over their eyes.
The zoo’s manager of wildlife care, Marc Brandson, says the two were born and raised at a local Ontario farm before moving to the zoo about a month ago.
He says they completed a quarantine period and now live just outside the Eurasia Wilds area of the zoo.
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Membership holders can visit the brothers at a pre-screening on Thursday, while other visitors can see them starting Friday.
Brandson says there is “a lot of excitement” around the pair because of how popular the Highland breed already is.
He says the zoo is hoping to have the brothers walk through the public area of the zoo as part of its animal ambassador program, which can give visitors a closer look at certain animals.
“Each and every day, our outreach and discovery staff are working to get them to that level,” he said.
“Having a bonded pair is a really great social situation for Highland cows. These brothers are very calm and they are gaining confidence each and every day that they interact with their caregivers.”
The brothers don’t have names yet, and Brandson says the public should stay tuned on ways to contribute naming ideas.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner says the federal government needs to do more to fight Canada’s devastating forest fires.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday in Ottawa, the Alberta MP accused Ottawa of “inaction” on wildfires. She also blamed that lack of action for new measures restricting activities in the forests of two provinces — even though those bans were imposed by the provinces themselves.
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick last week banned hiking, fishing, camping and the use of vehicles in its forests in response to the heightened wildfire risk.
Rempel Garner said that while she understands the fear Maritimers feel, restricting individuals’ movements is “not right.”
“Whenever there’s a major crisis, what the Liberal government has done by their inaction has conditioned Canadians to expect that the only response they can see out of their federal government is to restrict their movement,” Rempel Garner told reporters.
“We’re calling on the federal government to actually get serious about this issue.”
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Conservative MP Marc Dalton presented a bill last year to stiffen penalties for wildfires caused by arson. It never made it past first reading and died when Parliament was dissolved ahead of this year’s election.
Rempel Garner said that’s one area where the Liberals could have taken action on wildfires. She also called on the federal government to dedicate more resources to wildfire control.
In its 2021 election platform, the Liberals promised to train 1,000 community-based firefighters to fight wildfires and to work with provinces and territories to get them more firefighting planes.
Last month, Ontario Premier Doug Ford told reporters that Alberta-based water bomber manufacturer De Havilland was facing a four-year backlog of orders.
“Four full wildfire seasons ago, the Liberals promised more water bombers, more firefighters,” Rempel Garner said. “Where are they?”
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston brushed off the criticisms of the forest entry ban at a press conference later Wednesday.
“I find it remarkable, the interest in travelling in Nova Scotia woods by people who aren’t in Nova Scotia and probably haven’t been here much in their life,” Houston told reporters.
“We’re only concerned with keeping people safe. We’ll do what’s necessary to protect lives, and that’s what we’re doing in this case.”
So far this season, the total area of the country burned by wildfires is nearly the size of the entire province of New Brunswick.
— With files from Sarah Ritchie.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
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