TORONTO -- Who knew a key that could help unlock the Blue Jays offence would lie in moving Vladimir Guerrero Jr. off his position?
Manager John Schneider installed Guerrero Jr. at third base on Sunday in what was the regular first baseman’s first MLB start there since late September of his rookie season in 2019. The move created space for both Justin Turner and Daniel Vogelbach in the lineup, with the former playing first and the latter occupying the designated hitter spot.
It turned out to be a crafty bit of lineup juggling as Vogelbach produced a pivotal double in the fifth inning to cash in two runs that helped the Blue Jays come from behind to secure a 5-4 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates in front of 34,887 at Rogers Centre.
If Guerrero Jr. doesn’t move over to third, Vogelbach likely doesn’t make it into the lineup.
“You got to give a lot of credit to Vlad because it's not easy to do and it shows what kind of teammate he is,” Schneider said following the game.
The manager noted that the decision to shift Guerrero Jr. was made collectively and is the result of conversations with him over the past few weeks. Guerrero Jr. has been intermittently taking ground balls at third base for a while and the club wanted to make sure he was ready before the move. Sunday represented a “target date,” according to Schneider, who stressed that this is not permanent.
“Maybe a couple days out of a week-and-a-half, something like that,” he said of the club’s plan to use Guerrero Jr. at third. “It's not a position change by any means, but I think it just offers some flexibility.”
Guerrero Jr. didn’t see any action at the hot corner until the seventh inning, when he snared a sharp grounder from Nick Gonzales and made a clean throw to first. In the next frame, positioned more toward the six hole, Guerrero Jr. ranged to his left to slickly field a grounder before retiring Yasmani Grandal.
“I was ready. I prepared myself for that,” Guerrero Jr. said through interpreter Hector Lebron. “All this time I've always told the manager, everybody, that I'm available in case they need me. I'm ready to play third. Today it happened and I was ready for it.”
The 25-year-old signed with the Blue Jays in 2015 as a third baseman and acknowledged it’s still his favourite position. However, he wants to do what’s best for the team.
“If you can play both corners, first and third, the right way, that will give the manager, the team, more options like today,” said Guerrero Jr. “Regardless if third is my favorite position, I'll be prepared for first or third, whatever that team needs [of] me.”
Guerrero Jr. also heaped praise on Vogelbach, who’s become a favourite among players in the clubhouse. The left-handed slugger collected five hits and four RBIs in the three-game series against the Pirates and has looked much better at the plate over the last two weeks. He’s increased his OPS from .384 on May 12 to .681 following Sunday’s game.
“I try not to, over a small sample size, worry about results,” Vogelbach said. “You can drive yourself crazy looking at the scoreboard or looking at stats rather than just putting the work in and hitting the ball hard and having good at-bats. You look up at the end of the year and we'll see where we're at.
“A guy always told me that it takes a long time to have a good season and anybody can have a good first month, anybody can have a bad first month.”
Blue Jays left fielder Davis Schneider added a needed insurance run in the sixth inning when his RBI double cashed in Daulton Varsho and the Blue Jays bullpen held things down from there. Chad Green, Trevor Richards and Nate Pearson each contributed one scoreless frame before Yimi Garcia — acting as the closer with Jordan Romano on the injured list — allowed an RBI single to Rowdy Tellez in the ninth. The right-hander escaped any further damage, though, to collect his third save of the season.
Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt allowed three runs on eight hits over five innings, walking one and striking out seven. He tossed 100 pitches (63 strikes) and was erratic at times, evidenced by his three hit batters. The right-hander registered 11 whiffs from Pirates hitters while relying on his sinker — which topped out at 95.3 m.p.h. — cutter and curveball.
Bassitt was bothered by neck spasms in his previous start but said it subsided a few days ago.
“The only issue throughout the week was I wasn't really able to train and … throw a bullpen,” Bassitt said. “And so, mechanically, going from feeling really bad to feeling really good and not be able to work through that, I put myself in a lot of jams today because of it.”
Sunday’s win concluded a 13-game stretch for the Blue Jays against the White Sox, Tigers and Pirates — all clubs that were considered weaker competition. That portion of the schedule was supposed to allow the Blue Jays to fatten their record and bank some wins and the club largely accomplished that by going 8-5.
“Technically it's a soft spot on the schedule, but you got to win,” said Schneider. “It doesn't matter who you play. You got to try to get as many wins as you can, but I think the way we're playing right now is good and there's always room to get better. Especially here, winning the series at home. I like where we are right now but to look back two weeks, what's done is done, you keep moving forward.”
The manager noted the club’s hitters have shown progress of late and Vogelbach echoed the sentiment.
“I think that, for the public eye and everybody just in general, you can really get caught up in hits and no hits,” said Vogelbach. “We've had some games where in the hit column we don't have a lot of hits but we've had really good at-bats … Over the course of time, when you have good at-bats like that, even though it's not showing up, if you stay with it, I think that things even out and get to where they go.”
The Blue Jays have now won five of their past six games to improve to 28-30 on the season as the powerhouse Baltimore Orioles are set to visit for a four-game set beginning Monday.
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