Guerrero gives Jays win with one swing, and maybe ends his slump

It was about time.

Mired in an unsightly hunch that had seen him hit simply .206 since leaving a sport in opposition to the Yankees with a knee damage on Might 16, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got here to the plate with George Springer on second base and two out in a tie sport within the prime of the ninth inning in Queens, N.Y., Saturday.

The younger slugger-who-isn’t-slugging was positioned in a gap early, as umpire Charlie Ramos, minor-league call-up, known as David Robertson’s first pitch a strike. It was a lower fastball down and in, a ball from the second it left the veteran’s proper hand.

The decision was so egregious, on a day that featured a rickety strike zone at finest, it was sufficient to get Blue Jays supervisor John Schneider tossed for registering some slightly fervent dislike.

“All f—ing day!” Schneider yelled after Ramos known as strike one on Guerrero. That acquired the skipper the heave-ho, and he raced out of the dugout to present the umpire a bit of his thoughts.

“All f—ing day!” the supervisor repeated, adopted up by “you’re dogs— for us, you’re dogs— for them,” amongst different equally unprintable issues.

All of the whereas, Guerrero stood by, taking the additional time to reset, to compose himself and to organize for the remainder of what was an enormous at-bat for his group.

The subsequent pitch was a knuckle curve even additional inside than the primary, known as a ball. Guerrero then swung by means of a cutter simply above the belt. It was a pitch we’ve gotten used to seeing him crush over the previous couple of years, however one which has been consuming him up for the previous few weeks.

Robertson, a 15-year veteran with 167 saves to his identify, didn’t attempt one other cutter. He threw a knuckle curve that began on the backside a part of the strike zone after which fell proper off the desk.

It was the identical pitch he threw to Alejandro Kirk the inning earlier than with runners on second and third and two out, and it acquired the Jays catcher to swing and miss — the primary time he had struck out in 40 plate appearances.

The pitch to Guerrero was even filthier than the one which acquired Kirk, breaking 52 inches downward versus 48, however whereas Guerrero additionally swung, he didn’t miss.

The 24-year-old not solely went down and acquired it, however he hit it exhausting down the third-base line. The 98.4-m.p.h grounder scooted previous rookie Brett Baty and into left subject, scoring Springer simply and giving the Jays their first lead of the day.

Erik Swanson, pressed into closing responsibility to keep away from having Jordan Romano pitch on a 3rd straight day, closed out the 2-1 win for his seventh profession save and first as a Blue Jay.

It was solely Guerrero’s third extra-base hit within the final 17 video games (his second when you take out his Might 23 grand slam in opposition to place participant Luke Raley) and simply his third run batted in his final 10 video games. That proven fact that the Mets even pitched to him illustrates simply how pronounced the hunch has been, since Cavan Biggio was on deck, having pinch-run for designated hitter Brandon Belt the inning earlier than.

However Guerrero’s hitting of late isn’t what we’ve been accustomed to seeing, not even near his near-MVP season in 2021. At simply 22 years of age, he blasted 48 house runs — greater than his Corridor of Fame father hit in a single season — whereas main the most important leagues with a 1.002 on-base-plus-slugging proportion.

Final 12 months, whereas nonetheless an all-star, he slipped again to 32 homers and an .818 OPS. This 12 months, Guerrero is on tempo to hit simply 22 large flies and his OPS at the moment sits at .803 — although, to be honest, it was .901 when the knee damage knocked him off-kilter.

He has known as in some reinforcements to attempt to get him again on a very good swing path, asking his uncle, Wilton Guerrero, a former Montreal Expo and Los Angeles Dodger, to return to Toronto ahead of deliberate. Tio Wilton was supposed to return for a go to Monday, when the Jays return from their weekend in New York, however he got here up per week early, simply earlier than the final house collection with Milwaukee.

No person is aware of Vladdy’s swing higher than his uncle, who has been hitting with him for the reason that youthful Guerrero was a pre-schooler. They talked timing greater than mechanics, attempting to get the Jays star to sluggish himself down in his stride towards the baseball. It paid off with three hits in that first sport in opposition to the Brewers, and with some better-looking outs within the subsequent two video games.

“I believe Vlad’s actual shut,” Schneider stated in the midst of the Brewers collection. “I believe it’s going to return fast when it does. Happy with the progress that he’s made. He’s the exception to the place it’s going to take one swing, one at-bat, and he’s going to get rolling.”

The Jays are hoping that Saturday’s game-winning double was that swing.

Mike Wilner is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star and host of the baseball podcast “Deep Left Subject.” Comply with him on Twitter: @wilnerness

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