ARLINGTON, Texas -- Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver famously said that the key to winning in baseball was "pitching, defense and the three-run homer." Well, three-run homers always are a good thing, but another way to look at it is that winning is about "pitching, defense and less-than-three-run homers ... just so long as you hit enough of them."

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"Home runs are always a good thing," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "We weren't getting many hits, but if you can make some home runs, that makes a huge, huge difference."

Indeed. The Blue Jays had five hits against Texas starter Yu Darvish in the first five innings of Game 2 of the ALDS on Friday, and the Rangers had nine hits (and a walk) against Toronto starter J.A. Happ in his five-plus innings. But the Texas hits were all singles and amounted to only one run, and four of the Toronto hits were home runs -- three of them solo shots in the fifth inning -- which accounted for all the Blue Jays' runs in a 5-3 victory, giving them a commanding two-game lead in the division series.

In a season when home runs were up significantly throughout the majors, Toronto hit 221 homers but also struggled at the plate the final month, averaging barely three runs a game. The Jays have recovered this postseason thanks in large part to the home run. They have hit eight so far in their three postseason games, accounting for 13 of their 20 runs.

"I think what we went through early in September, we didn't have a chance," said center fielder Kevin Pillar, who homered Friday. "Our back was against the wall. We had to win some games, and we played a lot of meaningful games down the stretch. And it's paying off for us. We know what it's like to play must-win games. And we were able to be successful in those. And we're just riding that high right now."

Troy Tulowitzki, who had a key three-run triple in Game 1, got the Blue Jays started with a two-run homer in the second inning Friday.

"That's the way we are, that's the way we're supposed to be," said Edwin Encarnacion, whose three-run walk-off blast decided the wild-card game Tuesday and who homered again Friday. "We didn't have the great regular season, and not everybody hit the way we used to hit, but now we're here, and it's the perfect moment for everybody to do it in the playoffs."

How well did Toronto's offense click in these two games in Texas? Even though the Jays had to shift Ezequiel Carrera from ninth in the order to leadoff because of Devon Travis' sore knee, the move resulted in Carrera hitting one of the three homers Toronto swatted off Darvish in the fifth inning.

"Hitting eighth, ninth or first, I'm just going to do the job I can do," Carrera said.

Ezequiel Carrera, who shifted from the No. 9 spot in the Jays' lineup to leadoff, celebrates his home run, one of three for Toronto in the fifth inning. AP Photo/LM Otero

Travis will undergo an MRI on his knee, and the Blue Jays also wait to hear how Francisco Liriano is after getting hit near the back of the head by a line drive in the eighth inning. Liriano's injury required closer Roberto Osuna to take the mound and pitch 1⅔ innings and a near-career-high 31 pitches after leaving Tuesday's wild-card game because of a sore shoulder.

Though Gibbons said it was not ideal to have to use Osuna that long, he was able to close out the victory.

"That brings me a lot of confidence because I don't feel any pain or anything," Osuna said. "And I'm looking forward to the next game."

As are all the Blue Jays. Only seven of 53 teams have blown a 2-0 lead in a best-of-five series in postseason history. Further, the next two games are in Toronto. And while anything can happen -- last year's Blue Jays were one of those seven teams to come back from an 0-2 deficit, with their first two wins coming on the road -- they have a significant advantage in the upcoming pitching matchups in addition to their recent power surge. Their Game 3 starter is Aaron Sanchez, who was 15-2 with a league-best 3.00 ERA. Texas starter Colby Lewis was on the disabled list because of a shoulder injury this season and gave up 17 runs in just 18⅓ innings when he returned in September.

"Our team is a little bit different than last year, where we kind of just outslugged some teams," Pillar said. "We still have the ability to do that, but we understand that if we're able to push a couple runs across, our starting pitching is so good and so deep, and our bullpen is really good, that we can win games in a variety of different ways."

Home runs aren’t the only key to winning. But they always help.