TORONTO — Lost amid the growing talk about Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s triple-crown bid is that one of his Toronto Blue Jays teammates may very well prevent him from accomplishing the feat.
Quietly, without the fanfare his performance merits, Teoscar Hernandez claimed the club lead in RBIs with a three-run homer Saturday, a high arching drive to left field that decided a 6-2 win over the Minnesota Twins.
At 106 RBIs, Hernandez sat third in the American League ahead of the evening slate of games, trailing only Salvador Perez and Jose Abreu. Guerrero, who walked and scored on the decisive fourth-inning drive, is two behind at 104.
That Hernandez was so tight on Guerrero’s tail before leapfrogging him is a byproduct of the depth of offence the Blue Jays have produced.
Guerrero, for obvious reasons, has drawn much of the attention in what’s been among the best, if not the best, offensive season in franchise history when you factor in his age and the era of pitching. Marcus Semien, whose solo shot to open the fourth gave him 40 homers on the season, has emerged as one of the club’s most important players and leaders. He’s got 95 RBIs, the same as Bo Bichette, whose two-run single in the seventh opened up a 6-2 lead.
Add in the dynamism of George Springer atop the batting order and the recent surge of Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who has knocked in 26 runs so far in September, and Hernandez’s essential steadying of the lineup from the No. 5 spot hasn’t been spotlighted the way the others have.
Regardless, he’s been a fundamental part of the overall lineup’s success, from punishing clubs who tried to pitch around Guerrero early in the season out of the cleanup spot to cashing in the top four’s leftovers while table-setting for the bottom four the past couple of months.
Hernandez has been fairly consistent, too, as aside from an eight-game sample from April when he had COVID-19, his monthly OPS has been .959 in May, .741 in June, .853 in July, .835 in August to 1.193 in September.
And to underline the balance in his performance, he’s batting .304, and of the seven hitters batting .300 or better midway through Saturday, only he, Guerrero and Baltimore’s Cedric Mullins were also slugging above .500 (Guerrero, ridiculously, is slugging .615 while also batting a league-leading .318).
It was his thunder Saturday that leveraged the latest solid outing from Steven Matz, who surrendered a two-run shot to Josh Donaldson in the first inning and then nothing else over 5.2 innings.
He left after a two-out walk to Donaldson and single to Miguel Sano in the sixth, with Trevor Richards retiring Brent Rooker to protect a 4-2 lead, but delivered just what the Blue Jays needed after Hyun Jin Ryu’s two-inning dud Friday.
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Another short outing with Jose Berrios, who left his last outing with left abdominal tightness, due to start Sunday would have left the bullpen vulnerable. But Matz did enough to help reset the relief corps.
Twins starter Bailey Ober didn’t allow a hit his first time through the lineup but got knocked around the second, as Semien opened the fourth with his solo shot before Guerrero walked, Bichette singled and Hernandez delivered the knockout.
