Newly acquired stuffed dragon ignites Blue Jays’ struggling offence

Sometimes, you never know what you’ll find when you arrive at the ballpark.

On Tuesday, with the Toronto Blue Jays enduring a miserable West Coast road trip and coming off one of their sloppiest performances of the season, players and coaches alike discovered a few new additions around the clubhouse: toy dragons.

Before the game, assistant hitting coach Cody Atkinson visited a local toy store on his way to Oracle Park, where he purchased a stuffed dragon, along with a dragon hand puppet and trinket, as Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi reported. Altogether, the toys came to a total of around $70 USD, approximately $40 for the dragon on the stick and $15 each for the other two.

But Atkinson joked he would have paid “thousands of dollars” if he had known it would lead to chasing Giants starter Trevor McDonald — who allowed eight runs on 11 hits — out of the game after just 2.1 innings.

Heading into the night, the Blue Jays’ scuffling lineup had only combined for three runs over the last four games, totalling just 13 hits in that span. The trio of Atkinson, fellow assistant Lou Iannotti and head hitting coach David Popkins wanted to change things up and adopt a fearless approach — hence the use of a dragon.

The results, at least through one game, are undeniable. Led by a five-run, third-inning barrage, Toronto’s offence soared to a much-needed 9-3 victory — recording 13 hits, matching their combined total from the past four contests. They produced 11 hits across the first three innings, setting a new season-high, sparked by Jonatan Clase‘s unlikely three-run home run in the second.

Moments after Clase finished putting on the club’s home-run jacket, he was handed the now infamous stuffed dragon on a stick — currently coined “The Home Run Dragon,” but the team is taking suggestions for a new name.