Three days ago, the Jays put together what may have been the most incident-filled seventh inning in baseball history. It worked out for them.
On Saturday, they repeated the feat on a minor chord. And it most certainly did not work out for them.
In that frame, the Jays and starter David Price turned a three-run lead into two-run disadvantage in the space of eight batters.
Kansas City won the game 6-3 and took a 2-0 series lead.
After two early losses against Texas, the Jays didn't give off a defeated or rattled vibe. They were, in the best sense, in mid-August form when it came to shrugging off a couple of setbacks.
In the first of those games, they were terrible. In the second, they were unlucky. They knew it'd turn around.
This was something different. The Jays got 6/7ths of an elite performance from their ace. The offence was ticking, if not very loudly. This was Toronto somewhere close to its optimum form. And it still blew up on them.
The Jays can't tell themselves they gave this one away. Instead, it was taken from them.
"[Kansas City] were looking for that one little crack …," manager John Gibbons said afterward.
They found it.
It was one of those games that seemed going one direction from the beginning. It wasn't until after the Jays were going over it that the cliff became visible.
It began with the first hitter of the seventh – Ben Zobrist – knocking a fly ball into no man's land in right field.
Second baseman Ryan Goins seemed to wave right-fielder Jose Bautista off. Bautista slowed. Then Goins suddenly turtled. The ball dropped in for a base hit.
"It's on me. Nothing can be said about it. I just didn't make the play," Goins said afterward.
Did you think you heard Bautista call for it?
"Well, yeah."
Did Jose call for it?
"No."
That small miscue would ripple out, like cracks forming in ice.
To that point, Price had been at his mid-season best. Now, his confidence began to slowly flake away.
First, a single. Then another. A groundout that might've been two had Price raising his arms in frustration. You could see that he was wobbling, but there was no one in the pen who seemed like a better option.
Another single, and now it was tied. The Jays were just trying to get Price to left-handed hitter Alex Gordon. After that, he could leave.
By his own admission, Price missed his pitch. Gordon doubled to deep right. The Royals had taken the lead. Price shuffled off. His relief – Aaron Sanchez – gave up another run.
Over the first six innings, Price allowed the Royals only one hit. In the seventh, he gave up five. More proof that baseball isn't about being perfect. It's about making your mistakes at the right time.
Afterward, as is his habit, Price placidly absorbed all the blame himself. But when someone put it to him that he'd "struggled" in the seventh, there was a small spark of anger.
"I don't think I struggled. I mean, it's frustrating. But I didn't struggle."
It's early yet, but a part of you does wonder if that's the last time we ever see Price pitching in a Jays uniform.
Toronto has come back from this deficit, and with less margin for error. But this one feels different.
Like the Jays, Texas was a team trying to figure itself out. The Royals already have. Beyond the talent, that self-confidence is what makes them so dangerous.
A Jays win on Monday back in Toronto puts the series on relatively even footing.
One game – it doesn't sound like much of a concession. That's probably how Texas thought of it. The Royals will not.
During last year's post-season, Kansas City swept both the ALDS and the ALCS. They know how to step on a team's neck once they've got them on the ground. They will be looking to exhibit that ruthlessness again.
Toronto had a game to give away here. Now they've got none.
It's time to start creating more of those Game 5-type unforgettable memories. That's the sort of level it's now going to take.
If the Jays can't, "the 7th inning" may become a whole fan-base's collective shorthand for the 2015 post-season – both for good and bad.