The Miami Marlins will be riding a three-game winning streak and a walk-off grand slam when they visit the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night.
The Marlins completed a three-game sweep of the New York Mets with a 4-0 win on Sunday. Heriberto Hernandez provided the fireworks with a grand slam in the ninth inning.
Meanwhile, Toronto had a four-game winning streak snapped Sunday with a 4-1 loss to the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates.
It might have been worse for Toronto after a difficult fifth inning.
First, starting pitcher Dylan Cease left the game in the top of the fifth with left hamstring discomfort.
In the bottom of the fifth, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was hit on the right elbow by a Mitch Keller pitch. Guerrero left the game immediately with a right elbow contusion. X-rays were negative.
There was some postgame relief when neither injury seemed to be too serious.
Manager John Schneider and trainers visited Cease twice during the fifth.
“When we went out the first time, he was cramping up a little bit,” Schneider said. “Then, he still kind of felt it, obviously, so we wanted to be careful. He’s going to get an MRI. All of the testing and stuff seemed pretty positive. He said he wants to make his next start, so we’ll just see how he is in the next couple of days.”
Guerrero said he felt his arm go numb after being hit.
“He usually doesn’t come out of a game; he’s pretty tough,” Schneider said. “I followed him and he just said, ‘I can’t feel my hand.’ It was kind of like a funny-bone but traveling at 90-plus miles an hour.”
Said Guerrero: “When that happened, I thought it was worse than this, but thank God nothing major. Right now, it hurts, but I’m going to take it day-by-day, see how it is (Monday).”
Toronto is scheduled to start Trey Yesavage (2-1, 1.07 ERA) in the opener of the three-game series against the Marlins, a team the right-hander has yet to face in his career.
Miami is slated to start right-hander Janson Junk (2-5, 5.07), who has a 4.05 ERA without a decision in two career games (one start) against Toronto.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Hernandez is the seventh player in major league history to hit a walk-off grand slam to end what had been a scoreless game.
Hernandez entered the game in the seventh inning when he singled as a pinch hitter for Owen Caissie.
“We have a good team, and the pitching was really good, too,” Hernandez said. “Untouchable, like it has been all these past three days.”
Hernandez struggled early in the season, hitting .159 with no homers and nine RBIs through April 26 while being platooned in left and right fields before being optioned to Triple-A Jacksonville.
Hernandez said he was told: “The talent is there. It’s just a matter of just trusting what you’ve got and what you can do.”
Miami recalled him on May 7, and he has batted .280 with two homers and eight RBIs since then. Last season, he hit .266 with 10 homers and 45 RBIs in 87 games.
“We saw him do a lot of fantastic things for us last year,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “He hasn’t gotten a whole lot of starts to get into a rhythm. I think he’s always ready to come off the bench and hit.”
–Field Level Media
