TORONTO – Luis Rivera only roughly remembers the details from the crazy final weekend in 2016 that resulted in the first, and so far, only trip to the wild-card game for the Toronto Blue Jays. But now, as then, the third base coach is clear on the ideal way to handle these days of angst, and games of pressure.
“I know that they understand what is at stake,” he said before working out the club’s infielders Saturday afternoon. “But I want them to see who’s pitching, who we’re facing and try to play that instead of thinking about, we’ve got to win this game, we’ve got to make this play.
“That’s the way you should approach it, taking the pressure away,” he added. “Just go out, you’re good enough and let your abilities take care of it.”
The Blue Jays certainly did exactly that hours later in a 10-1 drubbing of the Baltimore Orioles, riding, home runs from Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Teoscar Hernandez, George Springer, Bo Bichette and Danny Jansen and yet another ace-calibre outing from rookie Alek Manoah.
That set them up for a do-or-die regular-season finale for just the fourth time in franchise history, following the heartbreak in 1987, the frustration of 1990 and the delight of 2016, when several scenarios were in play before the Blue Jays ended up with the first wild card spot.
There are even more possibilities for this version of the Blue Jays (90-71) on Sunday, thanks in part to the Tampa Bay Rays’ 12-2 pounding of the New York Yankees (91-70). They’ll need one more win against the Orioles, when Hyun Jin Ryu starts, plus another Rays victory or a loss from Boston Red Sox (90-70), who are at the Washington Nationals, to ensure at least a tiebreaker game.
The Seattle Mariners (89-71), home to the Los Angeles Angels, also remain in the mix and all the permutations can make your head spin.
“I’m getting more excited every day,” Hernandez said before the game. “I mean, we don’t know what’s going to happen in the American League wild card, we don’t know who’s going into the playoffs. We’re just going to keep putting pressure, try to do our thing and try to win ballgames. That’s my goal.”
The Blue Jays employed that approach perfectly Saturday, Manoah coolly shutting down the Orioles in a two-strikeout first before Guerrero followed Springer’s base hit with his 47th homer of the season, matching Eddie Mathews’ mark for most home runs by a player 22 or younger.
Hernandez’s 32nd later that inning made it 3-0, Springer’s 20th in the second doubled the advantage, while Bichette’s 29th to open the fifth and Jansen’s 11th four batters later opened up a 10-1 edge to the delight of 29,916 at Rogers Centre. The last homer also pushed the Blue Jays’ season total to 258, a new franchise record, surpassing the 257 from 2010.
That three of them came off John Means, a good pitcher who has frustrated them in the past, underlined their ability to remain in the moment, which is far easier said than done. What had the makings of a trap game quickly turned into a rout.
“I’m trying to do my thing and not change anything that I’ve been doing for the last two years now, try to trust in that, not lose trust in the things that I know I can do, stay positive and go out there and compete,” said Hernandez, who explained that while he can live with wrong outcomes as long as he’s used the right process, making outs while chasing results, “makes me mad, really, really mad.”
Why?
“Because I know when you try to do too much, you’re not going to be good on the field,” he replied. “I’m working on that and trying to keep myself in the same mindset for the whole season. Try to be consistent. That’s one of the biggest things for a baseball player. And when you put too much there, the result is not going to be positive. The result is not going to be fun. The result is not going to be what you want it to be. That’s hard, but this is what we’re supposed to do in baseball and we have to control that to be in position at the end of the year.”
Well, they’re there now, with a win and some help from enemies turned friends needed to cross the finish line.
