Blue Jays stage late-game comeback against O's ahead of Vladdy Day show back home

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No word on whether Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will be given the key to the city on Monday, when the Blue Jays roll out the carpet to celebrate their mega overpay for someone who has yet to lead the club to a single playoff win.

When a team is backed into a corner — as the Jays were during contract extension talks with Guerrero — and is fixated on optics and saving face, desperation rules the day.

Clearly, the team is banking heavily on Vladdy, who returns home following a road trip that exposed his continued lack of attention to baseball’s details.

One of these days, manager John Schneider needs to remove the kid gloves and challenge his marquee player, which might be a delicate act seeing that Vladdy’s 14-year, $500-million US deal doesn’t kick in until next season.

Schneider kept his first baseman out of the starting lineup when the Jays were in a rare position to earn a four-game series sweep at Fenway Park last week. He also defended Guerrero on Saturday in Baltimore after he left first base early on a fly ball that resulted in a double play.

Doubtless, fans will give Vladdy a rousing reception when he steps up to the plate in his first at-bat Monday against the Atlanta Braves.

With so much given in terms of money, much will be demanded of Guerrero. (Hopefully, that cheesy acknowledgment that the team’s flagship TV carrier has aired since his official signing gets pulled.)

Indeed, Vlad Jr. will be home, but he can’t remain homerless. He went 2-for-5 with an RBI in Sunday’s 7-6 extra-inning win over the O’s in Baltimore, but has yet to go deep through his first 39 at-bats.

The following are three takeaways from a wild game in which the Jays lost George Springer because of left wrist discomfort sustained when he struck out to end the fifth inning. It was a day in which the Jays trailed 6-3 through seven innings, drew even with a three-run eighth, then capped the comeback in the 10th inning.

Somehow, the Jays were able to get out of their own way just long enough in finding a way to return home with a 5-4 road trip that improved their overall record to 9-7.

DAY OF ATONEMENT

Baseball’s details, even the smallest that invariably lead to big innings, eluded the team for much of last season and it has carried over into the early weeks of 2025.

But redemption seemed to be the theme of the afternoon at Camden Yards.

Shortstop Bo Bichette booted a ground ball — one of two errors by the Jays in the sixth inning when the O’s would score twice to take a 6-3 lead. Bichette, however, made amends by driving in the game-tying run in the three-run eighth inning with a single to left.

A more inexcusable gaffe came in the ninth inning. Following a leadoff double by Anthony Santander, pinch-runner Nathan Lukes was caught napping when O’s catcher Adley Rustchman took the next pitch and quickly gunned the ball down to second. Lukes had no choice but to try for third, and was easily thrown out.

In the bottom half, Lukes atoned by making a sliding, game-saving catch of Jordan Westburg’s looper into shallow right-centre to force extra innings.

NO WAY JOSE

Sunday’s outing by Jose Berrios was his second of 2025 against the O’s, who were in town for the Jays’ season-opening series.
Baltimore is no stranger to pouncing on the Jays. When Ryan Mountcastle went deep in the second inning, it was his 19th career dinger against Toronto. For the O’s, it was their 13th in five games and two innings against the Jays.

Despite striking out the side in the first inning, Berrios gave up single runs in each of the first four frames, including a solo shot by Canadian Tyler O’Neill, who also seems to continually terrorize Toronto, leading off the fourth.

Berrios had a clean fifth inning, his last on the day, to give him a season total of 10 innings versus the O’s, allowing 10 runs and five homers.

Meanwhile, Jays closer Jeff Hoffman was asked to go two innings — the ninth and the10th — and was nothing short of dominant. The veteran right-hander, signed in the off-season, gave up a double to Rutschman in the ninth but struck out four of the seven O’s he faced, including O’Neill (swinging) and Ramon Laureano (looking) to end the game.

NOT-SO-GREAT EIGHT

Pitching has led the Blue Jays in the early season, with a staff that has more than compensated for the team’s lack of thump at the plate.

Alejandro Kirk has been more miss than hit this season but slugged a solo shot in the second inning that squared things at 1-1. It was Kirk’s first homer of the season.

For the Jays, it was just their eighth of the season, a category in which they now rank dead last in the majors.

UP NEXT

The Jays begin a six-game home stand with a Monday night visit by the Atlanta Braves, who started the season by losing seven in a row, twice being shut out and two more games in which they scored only one run … Rookie lefty Easton Lucas is on the bump for Toronto, fresh off his highly impressive outing in Boston.

fzicarelli@postmedia.com