Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has finally homered at home, and that could be a good sign for the Toronto Blue Jays entering a three-game series against the visiting Detroit Tigers.
Guerrero, who has struggled most of the season, went 4-for-5 in an 8-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday in the rubber match of a three-game series.
His home run came in the middle of a cluster of three with two out in the fifth against Trevor Rogers that snapped a 1-1 tie. It was only his ninth homer of the season and the first at home, which was not lost on a crowd that had been anticipating it more with each passing game.
The reaction in the dugout showed the relief of Guerrero’s teammates.
“It looked like it was a walk-off homer,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “I saw (Andres) Gimenez jumping over the railing. Myself, George (Springer), Ernie (Clement), we were high-fiving. Vlad’s our guy, and it’s just nice to get that out of the way.”
Guerrero’s shot to left came between blasts by Springer and Kazuma Okamoto. It was the seventh time in franchise history that the Blue Jays have hit back-to-back-to-back homers and the first time since June 19, 2012 at Milwaukee.
“This feels great, but right now it’s about winning and the team,” Guerrero said. “That’s my focus right now, just trying to win some games. I’m very proud of my team that we were able to win this game against a good team like Baltimore.”
The Blue Jays (75-75) remained a game out of the American League’s third and final wild-card spot held by the Cleveland Guardians, who defeated the Minnesota Twins 9-2 on Sunday.
The Tigers (70-79) defeated the Colorado Rockies 8-1 on Sunday and are 5 1/2 games out of the final playoff berth.
Detroit is scheduled to start Troy Melton (8-4, 2.42 ERA) in the series opener on Monday night. The right-hander has not faced the Blue Jays.
Jose Soriano (12-7, 3.48) is slated to start for the Blue Jays. The right-hander is 0-2 with a 1.93 ERA in four career outings (two starts) against the Tigers. He is 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA in one start against them this season when he was with the Los Angeles Angels.
The Tigers have been basically reduced to the role of spoilers.
They hope that Riley Greene continues his surge. He was 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs on Sunday against the Rockies and is 12-for-27 (.444) with two homers and 11 RBIs over his past seven games. Greene has 20 homers and 71 RBIs this season.
“Riley sets the standard for this team,” Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler said. “He’s the catalyst. He’s really locked in out there. We definitely missed him when he was out. Glad to have him back.”
An All-Star outfielder each of the past three seasons, including this year, Greene was put on the injured list Aug. 12 with a strained right hamstring and returned Sept. 1.
The Tigers have won four straight and six of eight.
“We’ve done a better job in these last couple of series of taking what the game gives us,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “That’s a huge part of the growth for young players and even for some of the guys who have been here. When you score as many runs as we have in this last week (32 in the past four games), when we’re going good, it doesn’t matter where it comes from.”
–Field Level Media
