TORONTO — Before he was traded to Houston last July, Jesus Sanchez had spent his entire major-league career playing in front of scant crowds in Miami. It’s certainly a lot quieter there than his new home in Toronto and Sanchez has had to adjust accordingly.
“In Miami, I would look for something to motivate me because obviously the fans but here is the other way around,” Sanchez said through interpreter Hector Lebron. “There are so many people rooting for you. You can get very excited real quick. So here, I just try to calm down my emotions.”
That method worked for the outfielder on Sunday as he drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and added a pivotal two-run homer to lift the Toronto Blue Jays to a 4-2 win over the Cleveland Guardians in front of 41,136 at Rogers Centre.
The victory improved Toronto to 12-15 and, for the first time this year, the club has won consecutive series.
The Blue Jays have spent April battling injuries and inconsistency, but with a strong week that also included two encouraging wins over the Angels in Anaheim, there’s finally some genuine, positive momentum.
“There's a lot of confidence on the team,” said Sanchez. “We're playing good baseball.”
Added manager John Schneider: “That's what you're trying to do. You're trying to just win the series and stack those up. Stack your days up, stack the series up and they're starting to click a little bit, which is cool to see.”
There were plenty of positives to stack from Sunday’s contest. Ernie Clement notched his MLB-leading 13th double and his 36 hits are third-most in the league, proving that he’s successfully carried his October heroics into 2026.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. collected three hits, Kazuma Okamoto continued his strong defensive showing at third base and Yohendrick Pinango collected his first hit in his big-league debut.
Meanwhile, on the pitching side, Patrick Corbin produced a decent outing but was picked up by some impressive work from the Blue Jays’ bullpen.
Corbin, making his fourth start of the season after signing with the club in early April, allowed two runs on six hits over 4.2 innings and 84 pitches, walking two and striking out four. He left the game in the fifth after allowing a game-tying double to Angel Martinez.
The veteran left-hander didn’t have a true spring training and so the fact that he owns a 3.72 ERA while still building himself up has Corbin and the organization feeling encouraged.
“I feel pretty good where I'm at,” Corbin said. “Just good to get in a routine and be here and get to know the guys and get comfortable with that. But just going out there and competing and getting in rhythm with our catchers, it's been fun. I feel good and I'm going to continue to keep going.”
Braydon Fisher relieved Corbin and prevented further damage over his 1.1 innings while Tyler Rogers and Jeff Hoffman also added scoreless frames in the seventh and eighth.
Louis Varland, who’s replaced Hoffman in the closer role, tossed 30 pitches to record a save on Saturday and was called upon again on Sunday. He allowed a single, but recorded two punchouts and expended 20 pitches to notch his third save of the week.
“Louis, he wants the ball,” said Schneider when asked about using Varland on the day after he tallied a high pitch count. “He's been here long enough and I've pitched him enough to understand when he's good and when he needs a blow. I was hoping he would get it done efficiently today and it was basically that. It's a lot of pitches back-to-back but he's shown that he's pretty resilient.”
Schneider was also asked for his thoughts on the shocking firing of Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who was let go along with five coaches on Saturday night amidst a rough start to the season.
“I'm surprised,” said the skipper. “I got a lot of respect for AC. I think everyone does around the league for what he's accomplished. You always hate seeing it happen.”
Despite that chaos, though, the Red Sox (11-17) defeated the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday and will now head to Toronto for a three-game set beginning Monday.
Schneider noted he expects the Red Sox to be competitive because “when change happens, there's always a heightened sense of urgency in a clubhouse,” but Sanchez said the Blue Jays are focusing on what’s happening here, first and foremost.
“Our clubhouse is great,” said Sanchez. “So, our mentality right now is about winning, regardless of who's coming here.”
The outfielder produced an impressive at-bat in the sixth that resulted in his second homer in three days and fourth of the season. He went down 0-2 in the count to Guardians starter Slade Cecconi before battling to a full count.
Cecconi followed with a 69.8-m.p.h. curveball that Sanchez deposited over the fence in right field to electrify the fans and put the Blue Jays up for good.
“It was huge,” said Sanchez. “I was very emotional.”
The Blue Jays acquired the left-handed hitter during spring training in the wake of Anthony Santander’s surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. The club has predominantly used Sanchez against right-handed pitching and that strategy has worked nicely so far. For context, his .764 OPS against righties is a shade better than Guerrero Jr.’s .742 mark.
Sanchez attributes his success this season to his approach of trying to hit the ball up the middle versus last year’s goal of pulling the ball. The change has worked out nicely for him and it’s been supported by the metrics.
That has the Blue Jays very excited.
“He's talented, man,” said Schneider. “I think just understanding what he's good at, it takes time sometimes. But he's got all the talent in the world.”
