PITTSBURGH — A couple of weeks ago, Brandon Belt looked to be on the verge of taking off. The veteran slugger, coming off knee surgery last fall, started slow after a cautious spring, striking out in 15 of his first 25 plate appearances. But he picked up three hits in the Toronto Blue Jays‘ April 11 home opener, started working good at-bats from there and then drove his team to a 6-1 win at Yankee Stadium with a two-hit, four-RBI night on April 24.
Instead of launching him on a strong run, Belt instead crashed again, going 3-for-21 in his next seven games. Telling of where the Blue Jays’ confidence in him stood was Monday night in Boston, when with two outs and the bases loaded in the seventh, manager John Schneider hit Alejandro Kirk in his place against righty Chris Martin, exactly the type of reliever Belt’s left-handed bat should be facing.
All of which made Belt’s latest breakout, a two-double, two-walk, two-RBI outing behind a strong Jose Berrios in Saturday night’s 8-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates all the more intriguing. With Vladimir Guerrero Jr. sitting out for the first time this season with some left wrist soreness, the damage Belt delivered from the sixth spot was a reminder of what he has to offer if right at the plate and what it means to a lineup that needs that thump from the left side.
While Daulton Varsho has come on in the past week — he added two more hits Saturday, including an RBI single that opened the scoring in a four-run first — and Kevin Kiermaier has performed as expected if not better, Belt and Cavan Biggio remain unsteady factors.
Biggio, a late addition once Guerrero was scratched, enjoyed just his second multi-hit game of the season and made a terrific diving stab on a Rodolfo Castro grounder down the first-base line that ended the fifth and likely saved two runs. His infield single in the second forced a Castro throwing error which brought home Belt with one run before a Kiermaier single plated two more for a 7-0 lead, and he added another single in the seventh.
It’s the type of well-rounded contribution that’s within Biggio’s skill-set but the offensive piece, difficult as it is to provide amid sporadic playing time, needs to be there more consistently.
That nobody is really pushing at triple-A Buffalo right now — first baseman/outfielder Spencer Horwitz is off to a nice start but isn’t beating down the door, while infielder Addison Barger, who looked the part during spring training, is still striking out way too often — is extending the runway for both Belt and Biggio to lock in.
But if it doesn’t happen in the coming weeks, an impact left-handed bat will shoot atop the Blue Jays’ shopping needs ahead of the trade deadline.
Belt’s night before a PNC Park crowd of 34,882 spiked by Blue Jays fans suggested that the club may still be able to solve for that internally. His two-run double in the first made it 3-0 and he scored on Kirk’s RBI single right after as the Blue Jays didn’t look back.
Berrios didn’t allow a baserunner until Jack Suwinski’s one-out walk in the fifth and Ke’Bryan Hayes followed with a single through the right side, but Biggio kept the game pinned down with his defensive gem on Castro.
The only damage against Berrios came on a Connor Joe RBI single in the sixth and Suwinski solo shot in the seventh, when Anthony Bass came on with one out and recorded two strikeouts to end the frame. Tim Mayza handled the eighth and Jay Jackson the ninth as the Blue Jays continued to correct from what really seems like an aberration series in Boston.
Belt and Biggio played key roles in making that happen, a reminder both of what they might have in two players still trying to turn it up, and what also they very much need.
