Blue Jays shake off missed alternatives to safe sequence win

DENVER — Sunday’s win received’t be hung in a museum, however the Blue Jays discovered a solution to preserve the American League Wild Card race proper in entrance of them.

The Rockies held the door open within the finale at Coors Field, giving the Blue Jays a dozen totally different alternatives to blow it open, which they lastly did within the ninth, securing a 7-5 win and sequence victory. Toronto has been scraping by in opposition to some golf equipment which have lengthy given up their postseason goals, although, and it might want to discover one other stage quickly.

With the Rangers successful on a walk-off residence run, the Blue Jays keep 1 1/2 video games again of the ultimate AL Wild Card spot. The Astros, who play the Yankees on Sunday evening, would fall again right into a tie with the Rangers in the event that they had been to lose.

“We definitely got some help from some other teams these past couple of days,” mentioned Kevin Gausman, who was knocked out after 4 innings by a 59-minute rain delay. “It would have been huge to somehow come back and win yesterday to walk out of here with the sweep, but we can only control what we can control. All three of these games were pretty crazy, back and forth. We were lucky to come out with two of three, but we can’t focus too much on everybody else.”

Games remaining: at OAK (3), vs. KC (3), vs. TEX (4), vs. BOS (3), at NYY (3), at TB (3), vs. NYY (3), vs. TB (3)
Standings replace: Toronto stays 1 1/2 video games behind Texas for the ultimate AL Wild Card spot, with Houston a half-game forward of Texas for the second spot
Tiebreakers: Down 2-1 in season sequence vs. Texas; Win vs. Houston; Lose vs. Seattle

Whit Merrifield and Ernie Clement delivered the pair of well timed singles that the Blue Jays wanted, however the highway to the ninth inning wasn’t almost as easy. Facing far inferior pitching, Toronto left some alternatives on the market in what changed into a bullpen matchup after the rain delay.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. captured that cumbersome journey all by himself. Guerrero launched his twenty first residence run of the season to left discipline to open the scoring within the third, however he almost value his workforce an out the following time he walked to the plate.

On the play in query, Guerrero despatched a 110-mph rocket to left discipline and loved the complete present, staring down his shot as he walked slowly out of the field. The solely downside? It wasn’t a homer.

When the ball crashed off the highest of the left-field wall, Guerrero was only some steps down the first-base line and needed to kick it into second gear. Only when the throw into the infield was booted did Guerrero bolt for second base, and whereas he danced away from a tag to slip in protected, it was an especially dangerous play — the sort that ends in an out as a rule.

“The home run was great,” supervisor John Schneider mentioned. “A sinker in and he got underneath it. That’s awesome. A great sign. Then he hits another rocket off the wall and we joked that the baseball gods allowed him to get to second on the bobble. We hashed it out. It’s all good.”

It’s not the primary time we’ve seen this from Guerrero in 2023. Part of the frustration of this membership’s season is the truth that, even in wins, there are moments that have a tendency to remove the shine. It’s why Toronto’s series-opening win, during which the membership performed a strong recreation and each different AL Wild Card contender misplaced, felt so out of the odd.

Amid accidents and unpredictable performances, it’s been the Buffalo boys carrying Toronto.

Spencer Horwitz was Sunday’s star, launching his first profession MLB residence run in a 3-for-4 day. Put that alongside Davis Schneider’s sensible stretch and a 3-for-5 recreation from Clement and also you see a depth group that’s match proper in, and it’s saving this membership.

“We’re starting to click,” mentioned Horwitz, who solely discovered 22 minutes previous to first pitch that he’d be within the beginning lineup, as Brandon Belt handled again tightness. “The offense clicked today. The pitching has been clicking all year. This is exciting.”

This isn’t how the Blue Jays deliberate on successful in 2023, however at this level, Plans A, B and C are out the window. Toronto might want to discover a higher model of baseball by the point aggressive opponents resurface on the schedule, however the membership will take an imperfect sequence win for now.