Five months without one at Rogers Centre
March. That was the last time Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had cleared a fence in his own ballpark, and the drought had started to follow him around. It ended in the fifth inning Sunday, on a Trevor Rogers pitch, with two outs and the game tied 1-1. Ninth homer of the year for the first baseman. First one at home.
Toronto never looked back after that. The Blue Jays won 8-1 over the Baltimore Orioles and took the best-of-three series with it.
What happened in the dugout told the real story. “It felt like a late-game home run,” manager John Schneider said. “I saw Andres Gimenez jump over the rail. George Springer, Ernie Clement and I were all slapping hands. Vlad’s our guy, and it’s good to get that one out of the way.”
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Seven times in franchise history, and the last was 2012
Guerrero’s swing landed in the middle of a sequence. Springer went deep. Then Guerrero. Then Kazuma Okamoto. Back-to-back-to-back home runs, a thing Toronto had managed only seven times since the club existed. You have to go back to June 19, 2012 in Milwaukee for the previous one.
He finished 4-for-5. Best line he has put together in months, and he was not interested in dwelling on it. “It feels good, but right now the important thing is winning and the team.”
The math is tight. Toronto sits at 75-75, one game behind Cleveland for the third and final American League wild card. The Guardians handled Minnesota 9-2 on Sunday, so nothing got easier.
Detroit rolls into town with nothing to lose
The Tigers open a three-game set Monday night. At 70-79 they are five and a half games out, which makes them a spoiler more than a contender.
That is the dangerous part. Four straight wins. Six in their last eight. Thirty-two runs across their past four games. Riley Greene has gone 12-for-27 over a seven-game stretch, a .444 clip, with 2 homers and 11 RBIs in that span. On the season he sits at 20 home runs and 71 RBIs, and he lost a month of it to a right hamstring strain.
Monday’s matchup: Troy Melton (8-4, 2.42 ERA) against Jose Soriano (12-7, 3.48).
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