BOSTON — After 60 days, 18 hours and 35 minutes, play resumed at Fenway Park Monday afternoon.
Just a slight delay, and then the Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox could keep playing the game that had to be suspended due to rain back on June 26. For the Blue Jays, the two-month wait was worth it.
Danny Jansen made baseball history, becoming the first ever player to appear in a game for both teams, but George Springer and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. backed some stellar Toronto pitching with big swings and the Blue Jays won their fifth game in a row, 4-1.
Actually, hang on. If this game technically took place on June 26, it was their second win in a row, right? Either way, they won. And either way, it was weird.
“I never would have imagined myself in this situation,” Jansen said within the Fenway Park clubhouse a couple hours before he entered as a Red Sox defensive replacement while the Blue Jays simultaneously pinch-hit for him. “I would have assumed it’s happened before.”
It never had, though, so Jansen’s phone has been buzzing recently as friends and family realized what was about the happen. Some of Jansen’s equipment will likely end up going to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and he was also in touch with MLB authenticators Monday morning.
“Within the last week, I feel like it’s picked up a lot of steam,” Jansen said. “At first I didn’t really think about it that much. But now here we are. It’s such a strange thing that’s happening, but I’m grateful to have the opportunity to do it.”
Of course, Monday would have been a significant day for Jansen even if there was no baseball history being made. This marked his first game against the Blue Jays, the team that drafted him in 2013, rostered him for the last seven seasons and traded him to Boston for three prospects in July.
Within the third base dugout, Jansen’s former teammates and coaches also found it all a little bizarre.
“Everything about the first game is weird,” said Springer. “There’s (traded) guys that are in the lineup that aren’t here, guys at different positions. There’s a guy on the team that you’re playing that was on your team. There’s no anthem. A completely different starter. So it’s a little weird.”
Before the game, Jansen caught up with Blue Jays players, coaches and staff at Fenway Park.
“I’m extremely grateful for everything with the Toronto Blue Jays organization. The fans, how good everybody’s been to me over there. So, yeah, it’s it’s a strange but exciting moment,” Jansen said. “It’s definitely a great group over here (in Boston), and I’m excited to play against my former teammates.”
For the likes of Toronto manager John Schneider, it was a chance to catch up with someone who was central to everything the Blue Jays tried to accomplish in recent seasons.
“Looking weird in his Red Sox gear,” Schneider said, smiling. “He actually has a nice haircut for once. Looks like he’s cleaned up his act over here in Boston — it was just great to catch up with him.”
While Jansen would later single, the rest of the Red Sox hitters had few answers for the Blue Jays’ pitching staff. Yariel Rodríguez started things off with a clean inning back in June and more quality pitching followed here in August. Ryan Burr struck out three as a de facto opener, Ryan Yarbrough covered 3.1 scoreless innings and Chad Green recorded his 15th save of the season.
Meanwhile, on offence, Springer homered for the game’s first run in the seventh inning and Guerrero Jr. drove in two with an opposite-field double in the eighth. Rookies Will Wagner and Leo Jimenez went hitless after entering as replacements for the since-traded Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Kevin Kiermaier, meaning they didn’t record hits in a game that technically took place before their MLB debuts.
Make sense? Maybe not, but that’s what boxscores are for, right? If you puzzle over this one a little longer than usual, trying to make sense of the game where ‘D. Jansen’ appeared for both teams, you won’t be alone.
“I’m sure, I’ll peek at it because it’s the first, right?” said Jansen. “I’ve never really been a crazy boxscore guy, but it’ll be cool to see that.”
