The Toronto Blue Jays are experiencing their first real downtime of the season and they'll have the opportunity to get back on track during an important three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday.

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Manager Charlie Montoyo's squad have suffered four straight losses, including the last two at the hands of the New York Yankees on Tuesday and Wednesday. With a 17-15 record, they sit third in the American League East Division, two games behind their next opponents.

Certainly, the euphoria of the first days of the regular calendar has dissipated. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and his teammates are having more trouble at bat: in fact, the Jays left no less than 11 runners on the trails to rot on Wednesday in a 5-3 loss. That's a problem that will have to be solved. quickly in order to avoid an even greater drop in the standings.

And in the eyes of outfielder George Springer, it doesn't take much for his people to regain their means.

"It's a tough sport," he said, as reported by the Toronto Sun. If you're not doing what you'd like to do as a team, especially on offense, you tend to rush everything. However, I think if we can slow down some stuff a bit and go back to the little things to just take a breather...in the end, we'll be where everyone wants to be."

Montoyo expects much better

Asked by journalists after the fifth defeat in six outings for his men, Montoyo said that his hitters will have to be much more opportunistic.

"We're better than what we present now," he said bluntly. We're going to stay consistent, but we have to start hitting with players in scoring position. That's been the key lately. Each guy forces things more, because no one manages to do the necessary. Hopefully a guy will have a good streak.”

Facing the Rays, the Toronto team will face a group of pitchers who posted, before Thursday's duels, the 17th best earned run average in the major leagues, or 3.75.