With inspiration from Maple Leafs, hockey fan Ernie Clement delivers for huge Blue Jays walk-off win
Article content
The hockey player mentality in Ernie Clement ensured there was no way he was coming out of the ball game after taking a foul ball off the knee early in a wildly entertaining Blue Jays walk off win Saturday at the Rogers Centre.
The hockey fan in Clement relished the opportunity to be Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and every potential feel-good Maple Leafs moment wrapped into one with the game on the line.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
With inspiration from Maple Leafs, hockey fan Ernie Clement delivers for huge Blue Jays walk-off win Back to video
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Clement’s walk off single in the bottom of the ninth sent the Jays to a jubilant 2-1 win over the Detroit Tigers, who came to Toronto for rivalry weekend with the best record in baseball.
“It’s great when you see a team like (the Leafs) do that, because that’s exactly where we want to be,” Clement said after the Jays improved to 22-23 and snapped a three-game losing streak. “We were extremely disappointed in how last year went and the Leafs were very disappointed because they have a hump to get over.
“From watching the games and being a hockey fan, it feels a lot different with (the Leafs.) And they have a lot of fight in them too.”
That fight was on display for the Jays on Saturday, a grind it out game in which they went almost seven full innings without a hit.
Then the fun arrived for a pink-clad crowd of 40,171 on what looms as a huge Toronto sports weekend with the Leafs facing the Panthers in Game 7 of their second round Eastern Conference series on Sunday at Scotiabank Arena.
Pinch-hitting Alejandro Kirk provided the first jolt with a game-tying RBI single in the eighth, getting things set for Clement’s heroics in the form of a clutch RBI to drive home Daulton Varsho, who had doubled a couple of batters before him.
In many ways it felt like a mammoth win for the Jays, who have struggled in tight games this season and seemed to be cruising towards going down 2-0 in the series to the Tigers thanks to another rough day at the plate.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
“We just made some huge, huge plays and you’ve got to be at your best at the end of a ball game,” Clement said of his hit combined with those of Kirk and Varsho. “We did that and really earned that win.”
Clement hopes the Leafs will do the same and will be at the game with a handful of teammates hoping to see another team in blue come through in the clutch. And the Rochester native is not a bandwagon hockey fan by any means. An all-star player in high school, Clement put up 52 points in 20 games as a forward with Brighton High School in his final year before shifting focus full time to baseball.
In the off-season, he still skates with a handful of his old pals at home, including some who have played in the NHL. That athleticism is also on display on the golf course, where he’s been known to shoot in the high 60s, and on the diamond where on Saturday he made his second career start at first base.
He’ll be fired up to see the Leafs do something special on Sunday up the road, just as he was to get the opportunity to delight the bustling holiday weekend crowd just up the street on Saturday.
“I love it,” Clement said of getting the opportunity to play the hero. “I failed in that situation so many times that, there’s really nothing to be afraid of there.
“(On Friday) I had a chance to tie the game and it hurt not coming through for the boys. I was thankful to get the opportunity again and it’s nice to come through.”
No one was happier that Clement stayed in the game after the ball to knee that crumbled him to the turf than his manager, John Schneider.
“Ernie is a hockey player at heart and he’ll stay in unless he’s got probably a bone sticking out of him,” Schneider said. “One of Ernie’s best qualities is making contact and I think that’s always a plus.”
It certainly was on Saturday for the baseball player in Ernie Clement.
BARBIE BULLPEN DAY
The only arm the Jays didn’t use, it seemed, was … Barbie herself.
The latest imaginative instalment of filling in for the lack of a fifth starter turned out to be a trip through the bullpen by manager John Schneider. And it worked damn near to perfection.
Eric Lauer got the “start” and, other than a solo homer run allowed to the Tigers’ Spencer Torkelson, was effective.
Naturally, a few eyebrows would have been raised when Lauer was removed after striking out the side in the third. That was clearly the plan, however, and Schneider and his bullpen arms executed it.
Next up was reliever Yariel Rodriguez who did his part, keeping the Tigers off the board for two innings before giving way to Brendon Little, Chad Green, and Yimi Garcia, who each pitched a scoreless inning.
That set the stage for Hoffman to enter the ninth with the score tied at 1-1 to try to shut down the Tigers and allow Clement to take centre ice — or stage — to come through for the win.
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.