TORONTO — The Blue Jays need a hero. They also needed one a month ago, but requests are still open.
Dominican Vladimir Guerrero Jr. once again showed off his resume with a three-run homer in Friday night’s game. 3-0 win Played against the Red Sox at Rogers Center, the game got the team back on track after a brutal four-game sweep by the Rangers.
“We have a 15-game season now,” head coach John Schneider said before the game, with the clock ticking louder by the day.
With time running out for the Blue Jays to regain a wild-card spot in the American League, these aren’t sweeping changes or major philosophical shifts. They played 148 games for this. Now, Toronto faces two weeks where the shortest path to the playoffs is to acquire a hero.
“We’re in a good position now,” Guerrero said. “If you look at Texas and Seattle’s schedule, they have to play seven games, which is good for us. We have to stay positive and keep working hard and get more wins.”
Of course, this isn’t the NBA. The Blue Jays were unable to get the ball to their own LeBron James in every big moment. But from the beginning, this roster was built to feature different players every night.
“He hit a big home run today,” Schneider added. “Don’t overlook Beau (Bichette)’s previous inning when he went 3-2 and stole a walk. That’s what we’re talking about. It doesn’t have to be Flood or Beau or George (Springer). It’s just every guy. Everybody’s doing their own thing. Beau’s round was earlier than Vladdy’s, but his timing definitely looked better.”
In a perfect world, the Blue Jays would play great baseball, which is what we’ve heard since spring training began in February. But that doesn’t quite happen, and if you need a new example, you usually don’t have to wait too long.
Before Guerrero homered in the third inning, Mexican Alejandro Kirk hit a double with a half-swing, but was also mishandled by Alex Verdugo in right field. However, when the next batter, Daulton Varsho, hit a ball to shortstop, Kirk moved into third and everyone in the stadium clearly saw where he was moving. It was cheered instantly.
After Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers was tagged, instead of slipping, Kirk jogged past him, adding to the tension in a ballpark desperate for a reason to cheer the boys on. .
Guerrero’s explosion quickly distracted everyone from the base-running error, which resulted in a three-run hit instead of a grand slam. But this entry paints a clear picture of what the 2023 Blue Jays will look like. They’re nice and even show more flash and sparkle, but they always get in their own way.
These mistakes haven’t gone away, and it’s unreasonable to expect them to at this point in the season. Kirk’s outing at third base was the Blue Jays’ 19th of the season, more than any other team in MLB. It’s ugly, like so many others are, but when the hero shows up, you tend to forget everything that’s going on in the game.
Puerto Rican José Berríos also deserves the same recognition, holding the Red Sox scoreless in seven innings with eight strikeouts. Berrios pulled out all the stops the night they debuted their own “bobblehead.”
“We’ve turned the page,” Berrios said. “We started winning tonight and we hope to keep this winning streak going for a long time.”
Berrios will be one of the engines that drives this Toronto team, even though he doesn’t have many starts left. Even now, almost six months later, the right-hander seems to have another level of speed that comes through when it matters most. This is something you can control, which is very important and rare in late September.
It’s now a 14-game season.Soon, that number will drop into the single digits until the calendar runs out
The Blue Jays won’t be able to fix everything before the season is over, but superstars playing at their own level can keep the dream going.