ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Forced into a spectator’s role when lumbar-spine muscle spasms landed him on the injured list a couple weeks back, Brandon Belt rode along through the Toronto Blue Jays’ messy series against the Texas Rangers and their subsequent revival since.
“I’ve loved watching every second of it,” said the veteran first baseman. “There’s no quit in this team right now and (this stretch) has been simulating a lot of playoff games for us. You get into the playoffs and it’s really which team can outlast the other team. We’ve been doing that really well right now. And my hope is, when I come back, I can just fit right in and help the team even more with that.”
Belt feels “ready to get back out there” now and there was discussion about activating him before Sunday’s series finale against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Blue Jays opted to give him a bit more time and then tightened their grip on a wild-card berth with a 9-5 victory, keyed by George Springer’s three-run, inside-the-park home run and a pair of brilliant defensive plays from the right-fielder.
Whit Merrifield’s two-run single preceded Springer’s blow in a five-run second, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. added solo shot in the sixth and ninth innings, the second one right after Bo Bichette went deep, while Daulton Varsho added a run-scoring triple in the eighth. The offence all came after Yusei Kikuchi gave up a two-spot in the first and didn’t pitch into the fifth for the first time this year, despite seven strikeouts in four frames.
Trevor Richards followed with two scoreless innings, Yimi Garcia gave up a two-run shot to Isaac Paredes in the seventh, Erik Swanson worked around a single and a walk in the eighth, and Jordan Hicks locked it down in the ninth before a Tropicana Field crowd of 22,472.
The Blue Jays (87-69) will head into the final week in possession of the second wild-card spot, as they began Sunday one game up on the Houston Astros (85-70) and 1.5 up on Seattle Mariners (84-70).
Kikuchi, who left his last start with a cramp in his left upper trap muscle, allowed four hits, including RBI singles by Paredes and Junior Caminero, during an odd top of the first in which he also struck out the side.
The deficit didn’t last long as, with two out in the second, Alejandro Kirk worked a two-out walk off Taj Bradley, took third on Daulton Varsho’s double and scored on Merrifield’s two-run single. After a Kevin Kiermaier base hit, Springer launched a drive to centre that hit off the wall beyond Manuel Margot’s reach and deflected away, allowing him to race around the bases in 16.6 seconds.
Springer then went to work in the field during a dominant defensive third, first fielding Curtis Mead’s smash off the wall in right and easily throwing him out at second base while also preventing Harold Ramirez, who opened the inning with a double, from scoring.
One batter later, Springer covered 55 feet to make a diving catch on a Paredes liner and immediately popped up to make the throw home. Ramirez misread the play and wasn’t able to get back to third in time to tag, which proved costly when Kikuchi struck out Caminero to end the threat.
Kikuchi allowed an RBI single in the fourth that cut the Blue Jays lead to 5-3, and that turned out to be his final inning. That frame pushed his season total to 162.2, a new personal best, surpassing the 161.2 he logged with Seattle in 2019 after first coming over from Japan.
The Blue Jays return home looking to lock down their ticket to the post-season during a series against the New York Yankees and Rays after a 4-2 road trip against those clubs. Adding intrigue is the growing possibility that the Blue Jays and Rays, who have clinched the first wild card if they can’t catch Baltimore for the AL East title, will face off in the wild-card round.
Belt is looking forward to being a part of it all and this time he feels much more ready to return than when he suited up Sept. 11 against Texas, but lasted just two at-bats. That was his first game back since Sept. 2, after which his back locked up and a stomach bug sapped his energy, the latter compounding the effect of the former.
As a result, “When I came back last time, I felt like I was swinging it under water,” said Belt. “My body was not loose and ready to go just because my body was not ready to go back out and play games. (This time) I’ve been hitting in the cage, hitting velo, I’ve had coaches simulate at-bats to me, different pitches. It’s not perfect, but it’s something for me. That’s what I’ve been doing. But as far as like my swing and feeling loose and ready to go, I feel like I’m there.”
The same can be said about the Blue Jays over the past week and a half.
“In my opinion, pitching and defence is what wins you games in the playoffs, with time timely hitting,” said Belt. “We’ve been doing that really well. A lot of times it’s who can make the least amount of mistakes in the playoffs. That’s where we’ve been excelling and that’s going to bode well for when we get in the playoffs.”
When Belt first went on the injured list that wasn’t a certainty. Now, it’s looking less like a matter of if, and more like a matter of when.
