Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit three home runs in the past four games and has 42 for the year. On Thursday, the 22-year-old became the third-youngest player in AL history to hit 40 and have 100 RBIs.Jim McIsaac/Getty Images
It has been a September to savour for the Blue Jays. They entered Friday night’s game in Baltimore with eight successive victories in the month that extirpates the impostors and rewards the ascendant.
On Thursday, Toronto completed its first four-game sweep of the Yankees in the Bronx in two decades. It was such a thorough thrashing that it had historians reaching for the record books. It was the first time since 1924 that reeling pinstripes lost all four games of a home series without once holding a lead.
On Aug. 27, the Blue Jays trailed New York by 9 1/2 games in the American League wildcard race. They are 11-1 since then and have closed the gap with the Yankees to within a whisker. A weekend wipeout of the last-place Orioles could see them overtake both them and the Red Sox in the drive to the playoffs.
If ever there was an organization that deserves this, it is Toronto. Thanks to the threat of COVID-19, it is the first team in 118 years to play home games in three cities. The Blue Jays started the season in Dunedin, Fla., and shuffled off to Buffalo before they returned to Ontario at July’s end after an absence of 670 days.
“Our team is never going to quit,” manager Charlie Montoyo said after the Yanks were spanked. “We played on the road for two years and never complained. That’s why we are here now. We made no excuses.
“We have gone through so much and have won through everything.”
Toronto began its current run with a victory in the final game of a series with Baltimore and then beat the Oakland Athletics, who are also vying for a wild-card berth, three in a row. After that, they hit 10 home runs and outscored New York, 25-8.
“I’m so proud of my team,” Montoyo said late Thursday. “It is tough to beat anybody in four straight, and it’s especially hard at Yankee Stadium. It is not just the eight games that we have won. It is who we have done it against. We’re not just beating anybody.”
Last season when the Blue Jays won a series over the Yankees in Buffalo, New York outfielder Brett Gardner griped about the quality of the lights at Sahlen Field. This season, there must have been a blackout or something at the House that Ruth Built that we didn’t hear about.
The year has been an injury-riddled bust for Cavan Biggio and George Springer, Toronto’s most high-profile offseason acquiree. With those exceptions, things could not be much better.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit three home runs in the past four games and has 42 for the year. On Thursday, the 22-year-old became the third-youngest player in AL history to hit 40 and have 100 RBIs. The only players younger were Joe DiMaggio and Juan Gonzalez.
Second baseman Marcus Semien, who signed as a free agent for one year, has six home runs over the past eight games and 38 in all. The 30-year-old hit 33 in 2019 for Oakland, but never even had 30 before that.
Now he is approaching the 40 mark and leads all major-leaguers with 75 hits for extra bases.
“I never thought about [hitting 40 home runs] as a young guy,” Semien said this week. He is earning US$18-million this season, and perhaps is on the way to making more. “I think when I got into the 30s in 2019 it kind of opened my eyes.”
Randall Grichuk and Bo Bichette each blasted their 22nd homers in Thursday’s win. Bichette led off the game with a 408-foot shot. He had three hits in his 47th multihit game of the season.
“It was huge to finish off the series,” said Bichette, 23. “It felt good to set the tone, but we still have ground to make up.
“The mood inside our clubhouse is relaxed, but we are excited, too.”
Alejandro Kirk, the 22-year-old catcher whom Toronto elevated last season from Class A in the minor leagues, has three homers in the past four games and has seven for the year. When he is not behind the plate, he is expected to get more at-bats as the designated hitter.
Robbie Ray was scheduled to be the starting pitcher on Friday against the Orioles. He is 11-5 with a 2.60 earned-run average and has outshone staff ace Hyun Jin Ryu. Ray has 43 strikeouts over his past 29 innings and has lasted seven innings or more in each.
Jose Berrios was excellent in Thursday’s victory, and Steven Matz the night before.
Everything is going right, at the most important stretch of the year.
“What I like about our run right now is that somebody different is doing something special every night,” Montoyo said. “We’re playing great.”
The Blue Jays have 23 games to secure a position in a winner-take-all wild-card game. Before Friday night’s game, they were perfect in September. They brim with confidence.
“We are playing important baseball in September,” Matz said. “That is what we do this for. You kind of feel it in everybody. We all know what we are capable of, and that’s fun and exciting.”