The drought finally ended at Rogers Centre on Sunday afternoon, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. made sure it came in a game the Blue Jays badly needed.
Toronto’s offense has spent most of this season searching for a spark, and Guerrero’s own season-long issues at the plate have been tied right into that struggle. He entered the must-win matchup against the Baltimore Orioles with a strange zero still hanging over his home stat line: no home runs in Toronto, with just two weeks left in the year.
He nearly broke through in the fourth inning. With six games left to be played in Toronto this month, it looked like the Silver Slugger might go six months without a moon shot in Canada, but a double that missed by a 400-foot double came up just short. The wind held it in the park.
The breakthrough came one inning later. George Springer went deep with two outs in the bottom of the fifth to put Toronto back in front, and then Guerrero stepped in and finished the job. He worked a six-pitch at-bat, drove a sweeper to left field and finally got his first home run at Rogers Centre this season, his ninth of the year overall.
The Blue Jays kept rolling after that. Kazuma Okamoto followed Guerrero’s blast with his 32nd home run of the season, and Toronto kept building until it was an 8-1 win over Baltimore to secure the series.
The victory helped keep the Blue Jays in the race, but the picture around them remains tight. Toronto is still chasing the Cleveland Guardians, and after the Guardians beat the Minnesota Twins on Sunday, the Blue Jays sit one game back of the final wild card spot.
For Guerrero, the homer was more than just a number finally changing on the board. It was a long-awaited milestone in a brutal season, and one the Blue Jays have been waiting on if they want any real chance of making noise in October.
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Blue Jays Finally Delivered The Kind Of Night Fans Needed
After a stretch that had tested patience around the ballpark, Friday night finally gave Blue Jays fans the kind of jolt they had been waiting for. Vlad Guerrero Jr. set the tone with a homer and a double, and even his near-miss of a second long ball had a bit of drama to it when the wind helped keep it in the yard. Add in home runs from George Springer and Masahiro Okamoto, and the offense delivered one of those innings that can change the mood in a hurry.
The fifth inning had the kind of pop Toronto has been trying to bottle, with Springer and Okamoto going deep on either side of Guerrero to turn the frame into a power surge. Dylan Cease did his part too, working five innings and allowing one run while striking out nine, and the bullpen carried it from there with multiple relievers helping finish the job. It was the sort of complete night the Blue Jays have been searching for, even if one swing in particular left just a little more to wonder about. [Read more 🡒]