For most of the night, the Blue Jays looked headed for another one of those maddening losses. The pitching wobbled early, the bats kept putting runners on and leaving them there, and Cincinnati had the game in hand before Toronto finally flipped the script late and escaped with a 6-5 win.
The comeback came in a hurry. A crooked inning changed everything, and then Tyler Rogers and Luis Varland finished the job the way they’ve done so often this season. Rogers handled the eighth, Varland locked down the ninth, and the Jays walked away with a comeback that had not been on the table much earlier.
Toronto’s offense was busy right from the start, just not efficient. Charles McAdoo opened the game with a hard double to right, Alejandro Kirk followed with another double to bring him home, and Kazuma Okamoto added the third double of the inning to score Kirk and make it 2-0.
That looked like the start of something. Instead, it became another night of traffic with too little payoff.
In the second, Davis Schneider was hit by a pitch and Myles Straw singled to put two on with one out, giving Toronto five men on base over its first turn through the order. McAdoo then picked up his second hit with a line single to load the bases, but Kirk grounded into a double play and the inning vanished.
The Jays had another chance in the third after walks by Okamoto and Schneider and a Nathan Lukes double loaded the bases again, but once again nobody crossed. They stranded a Straw infield single in the fourth and went down in order in the fifth.
Jose Soriano settled in just enough to survive the early trouble, but the Reds eventually broke through in the third. After a pair of runners reached on an opposite-field single and a bunt, Elly De La Cruz dropped a soft liner down the left field line for a double that scored both men.
That gave him a 30-30 season when he swiped third, and he scored on a broken bat single by Sal Stewart. Eugenio Suarez then lined a single to center, and after Hector Rodriguez tapped one back to the mound, Soriano chose to go for the double play.
He got Suarez at second, but the throw to first came too late and Stewart scored anyway, pushing Cincinnati ahead 5-2.
Toronto kept digging, but the game still felt like one of those nights where every break was leaning the wrong way. Brendan Cellucci followed Soriano and gave up one hit over a scoreless fourth, then struck out two in a clean fifth.
Chad Dallas took the sixth and allowed a pair of weak singles without any damage. Nathan Lukes was hit by the first pitch from Nick Lodolo in the bottom of the sixth, but that was Lodolo’s final pitch of the night as Luis Mey entered and kept the Jays off the board.
The seventh finally gave Toronto life. Dallas returned and walked De La Cruz before striking out Stewart, then handed things to Mason Fluharty, who retired the next two Reds.
In the home half, the Jays came alive. Andrés Giménez walked hitting for McAdoo, Kirk walked too, and then Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got sawed off by a Mey sinker that shattered his bat.
The ball bounced off a piece of the barrel and ricocheted into right field, bringing home Giménez and cutting the deficit to two.
That was the opening, and Toronto kept swinging through it. George Springer reached on an error by Oswaldo Cabrera to load the bases, forcing Mey out.
Pierce Johnson didn’t slow the momentum. Okamoto ripped Johnson’s first pitch off the wall in left-center for his second double of the night, tying the game at 5-5.
Lukes then slapped a grounder the other way into left to score Springer and put the Jays in front. Toronto had a chance to tack on more, but Brett Bateman flew out for Schneider, Clement hit a one-hopper to short, Okamoto was thrown out trying to score on the play, and Josh Smith, pinch-hitting for Straw earlier in the inning, struck out swinging.
Rogers took over with the lead and worked around a ground-ball single to keep it intact. The Jays went quietly in the eighth, managing only a walk off Graham Ashcraft, and Varland made the ninth look easy for the save.
Jays of the Day went to Okamoto (0.38), Lukes (0.15), Rogers (0.12), and Varland (0.16).
There are two games left, and the season is pretty clearly in “playing out the string” mode. Still, there’s one thing worth watching this weekend.
Justin Verlander is scheduled to start for the Tigers tomorrow in what would be the final appearance of his first-ballot Hall of Fame career. It’s unclear how much he’ll pitch, though it probably won’t be much after not appearing in a minor league game since early June.
Verlander is currently eighth on the all-time strikeout list with 3,554, while Max Scherzer sits just four behind at 3,550. Scherzer is the most logical candidate to start Sunday’s game for Toronto, and no starter has been announced yet for the season finale.
Trey Yesavage is already lined up for tomorrow, and CY Van Eyk is on the same short rest as Scherzer, so there isn’t a better fit. If Scherzer gets the ball, and if Verlander doesn’t make a surprise push, he could finish by passing his former teammate right at the end of their careers.
Before that, Yesavage (5-5, 3.67) will keep working back from the torn meniscus that cost him most of this month when he faces Rhett Lowder (6-12, 6.01).
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For Blue Jays fans, the critique lands in a familiar place because Guerrero is still judged not just on what he does, but on what he is supposed to become. Donaldson pointed to the home run totals and argued Guerrero looks more like a line-drive hitter than a true power bat, which only sharpens the ongoing discussion about his overall value and where he fits among the games highest-paid stars. [Read more 🡒]
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Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Now Has To Win Blue Jays Fans Back
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Guerrero also pointed to his fathers advice as part of what pushed him to address it directly, a reminder that the episode has become as much about image and trust as it is about baseball. For Toronto, the larger question now is whether the apology is the start of a reset or just the first step in a longer effort to win back a fan base that expects more from its biggest star. [Read more 🡒]