TORONTO — It’s still in there for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Games like this, where Vladimir Guerrero Jr. drives the offence, the starting pitcher puts up zeroes and the bullpen locks it down, have been rare of late. But as Saturday’s 1-0 win over the Chicago White Sox showed, that potential still exists.
The question now is how often the 46-52 Blue Jays can find this gear again. Because doing it once is great, but to get out of last place and back into contention, they’ll need sustained stretches of polished performance.
“We all know it's been it's been a rough year for us,” Guerrero Jr. said through interpreter Hector Lebron. “A lot of injuries, a lot of guys are up and down. But like we talk about in the clubhouse, it’s one game at a time. I think we’re going to be fine.”
The Blue Jays began the day 3.5 games behind in the American League wild-card race, but their latest win cuts that deficit down to three games pending the result of Saturday’s Rays-Red Sox game. Closing that gap is possible, but there’s a lot of work to do and limited time remaining.
Under those circumstances, Shane Bieber’s performance was pivotal. On a day the Blue Jays unveiled a back-to-back World Series statue of Joe Carter commemorating the 1992-93 championships, Bieber held the White Sox scoreless through six.
While his stuff wasn't overwhelming, it didn't have to be because he consistently got ahead of hitters and located his pitches well. Chicago connected for just three hits against the right-hander, who struck out six while generating 13 swinging strikes.
“Biebs was awesome,” said manager John Schneider. “Breaking ball was really good. Location was really good. He pitched.”
“I think he’s feeling a little bit more like himself and trusting it to let it rip.”
Afterwards, Bieber said he was able to pitch efficiently by challenging an aggressive White Sox lineup and limiting walks when it counted most.
“It's a good step forward,” Bieber said. “Being aggressive in-zone, and honestly just pitch execution, especially in bigger situations … I felt like it was a culmination of a lot of things coming together.”
This was easily the best start of the season for Bieber, who needed just 80 pitches before the Blue Jays proactively turned things over to the bullpen, at which point the high-leverage trio of Jeff Hoffman, Tyler Rogers and Louis Varland took over and covered three scoreless innings of their own.
Offensively, it was another quiet day for the Blue Jays, who managed just five hits against Davis Martin and the White Sox bullpen. But they scored once in the fourth when Guerrero Jr. doubled to deep centre and George Springer singled him in.
The Guerrero Jr. double left his bat at 107 m.p.h., giving him four batted balls of 106 m.p.h. or more so far this weekend. Granted, there are no awards for highest exit velocity, but those hard-hit balls are typically a sign of good things to come.
The first baseman spent the All-Star break getting “a lot of treatment” on his sore back, working to strengthen his core and spending time with family.
“I needed that,” he said.
As the second half begins, Guerrero Jr. said he’s trying to keep things simple.
“Trust in my routine. Trust my plan. Don't try to force it. Don’t chase a lot. Stay in my zone and I think I’m going to be okay.”
Guerrero Jr. also singled to right and walked Saturday, but he might have earned his biggest cheer of the day when he presented Carter with a customized home run jacket emblazoned with ‘Touch ‘em all Joe’ in tribute to Tom Cheek’s iconic radio call of Carter’s walk-off home run in Game 6 of the 1993 World Series.
“Very special for me,” Guerrero Jr. said. “Joe’s one of the people that I admire and respect very much. Every time I see World Series 1992 or ’93, I mean, I feel grateful to be here and seeing that. What happened today was very, very special.”
Guerrero Jr. wasn’t taking credit for coming up with the idea, though. Someone simply told him to be in the dugout at 3:25 p.m. ET, and once he arrived they handed him the jacket. Afterwards, Carter posed for pictures with Guerrero Jr, Springer and Schneider.
“There was definitely a little bit of a different energy, a little bit of a different buzz,” Schneider said. “The whole thing was really cool and I thought it was cool for our guys to experience that.”
Nearly 100 games into the season, Guerrero Jr. has yet to hit a home run at Rogers Centre, but with the way he’s swinging, that could change soon. More to the point, the Blue Jays found their way to a much-needed win.
The challenge from here: build on this performance with a string of wins — and soon.
“It's just doing everyone doing their part, really,” Schneider said. “Hopefully there's an opportunity for us to do it again tomorrow, and you keep doing it and you keep stacking it.”
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