Ernie Clement hits a three-run home run against the Chicago Cubs Tuesday night.Mark Blinch/Getty Images
Ernie Clement hasn’t missed much of late, but his failure to notice a bunt signal from the bench led to the biggest hit of the night on Tuesday, propelling the Toronto Blue Jays to a 5-1 win over the visiting Chicago Cubs.
With the Jays already in front thanks to Alejandro Kirk’s run-scoring single in the first inning, Clement arrived up to bat in the bottom half of the fourth with two men on and no one out. But with manager John Schneider looking to simply advance the runners, Clement inadvertently took it upon himself to advance them all the way across home plate, turning on an 82-mile-an-hour slider from Chicago starter Javier Assad.
“First and second, nobody out, I think [the Cubs are] probably thinking bunt,” the third baseman said afterwards. “So as a pitcher in that situation, you want to get one over the plate.
“If you’re going to do that and miss a sign, you’d be better hit a homer, or [the manager is] going to be pretty pissed at you. So yeah, I’m glad I put a good one on it.”
For the third consecutive game – and fourth time in five games – Clement deposited the ball over the outfield fence, with his three-run shot ultimately proving to be the winning margin. His ninth home run of the year wasn’t quite as dramatic as his ninth-inning blast on Sunday night that ultimately helped the Blue Jays edge the World Series-champion Los Angeles Dodgers. However, it did ensure that Toronto reached the 70-win mark in good company, joining the 1992 Jays on the third-most wins team in franchise history through 120 games.
“You know, you don’t think of Ern hitting the ball out of the yard, but at that point it’s 1-0,” Schneider said. “He makes it 4-0. I’m glad he missed the sign.”
Daulton Varsho celebrates a home run as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. gives him the home run jacket on Tuesday night.Mark Blinch/Getty Images
After the Cubs got a run back in the seventh inning, Daulton Varsho hit a solo shot in the eighth for his 12th of the season to restore Toronto’s four-run advantage. Jose Berrios (9-4) pitched a shutout through five and one-third innings, which included a 38-pitch scoreless second, before turning it over to the bullpen to close out the win to open the three-game series.
Coming against the second-best offence in baseball, that was always going to be easier said that done. However, having to contend with Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers over the weekend – owners of the best offence in the sport – served as a more-than-adequate warmup.
“It’s a grind for starters and relievers, it’s a pretty relentless one through nine or one through 13 for these two teams,” Schneider said. “So I think [our pitchers are] kind of feeding off each other a little bit, understanding they want to do a little bit better than they did from a bullpen standpoint, than what we did in LA. And they’re up for the challenge, but it’s tough, man.”
With the Blue Jays welcoming back second baseman Andres Gimenez to the lineup after he missed more than a month with an injured ankle, there was some thought it might be Clement, who has played 40 games at second base this season, making way. But the 29-year-old was shifted over to third, with normal third baseman Addison Barger playing right field instead.
But Clement, who has a career-high 120 hits this season, and is on pace to set a new career high in games played, accepts that missing some games comes with the territory of playing for a first-place club like Toronto.
“I’m happy to see my [name in the lineup] every day,” he said. “You never know what you’re going to get, but I think we have so much depth and so many good players who deserve playing time, and I don’t think anybody’s feelings are going to be hurt if they’re not in there. They just want what’s best for the team.”
And that juggling is only going to get more complicated with the likely imminent return of George Springer, who took batting practice before Tuesday’s game and is likely only a quick conditioning stint in Buffalo away from returning to the team.
“Obviously [he] looked really good today, looked like himself, and we’ll see how he is tomorrow,” Schneider said. “But the hope is that he gets into some AAA games in the next 24, 48 hours, and go from there.”
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct the spelling of Andres Gimenez's surname.