TORONTO – Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is like a cheat code right now.
Seriously, who turns on an 0-2 fastball from the usually nasty Hirokazu Sawamura that’s running up and in at 96.1 m.p.h. and launches it 443 feet to left-centre? His latest awe-inspiring drive left the bat at 111.3 m.p.h., and it wasn’t even his hardest-hit ball of the game, trailing a 113 m.p.h. first-inning single.
Vladdy just doing Vladdy things #BlueJaysOnSN pic.twitter.com/U8DejDJebO
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 12, 2021
Impressive stuff, and the two-run homer in the top of the sixth inning seemed like an exclamation mark on a good night for the Toronto Blue Jays, staking the cruising Ross Stripling to a 5-1 lead.
Instead, a game totally under their thumb nearly unravelled in the bottom half, unlikely leverage candidate Carl Edwards Jr. gave up the tying homer in the eighth and a Bo Bichette error to open the ninth led to Alex Verdugo’s walkoff single in a 6-5 Boston Red Sox victory Friday night.
Quite the start to a four-game series against the American League wild-card leaders.
Late-inning drama didn’t seem to be on the menu early, as Teoscar Hernandez delivered RBI singles in each of the first two innings, sandwiched around a Bo Bichette run-scoring single in the second that opened up a 3-0 lead off Garrett Richards.
While they left opportunities for more on the table – especially in the first when Randal Grichuk’s single loaded the bases with one out but Rowdy Tellez lined out to centre before Lourdes Gurriel Jr. struck out – Stripling looked to have things well in hand.
The last time he faced the Red Sox, on May 19 in Dunedin, he got pounded for six runs on eight hits, including homers by Alex Verdugo, J.D. Martinez and Kike Hernandez, over 3.2 innings. Stripling also gave up doubles to Rafael Devers, Bobby Dalbec and Hernandez in that one, prompting him to return to the windup after discovering that he had been tipping his pitches.
He’s been on a roll since and looked good again in the return engagement while relying mainly on his four-seamer, cleverly mixing in his slider, changeup and curveball. A Dalbec solo shot in the third was the only damage against him through the first five frames, and he got two outs in the sixth after Verdugo’s leadoff double and before Hunter Renfroe’s single made it 5-2.
Christian Vazquez followed with another single to end Stripling’s night, and manager Charlie Montoyo turned to Tyler Chatwood, who had a good rebound outing Wednesday in Chicago.
But Chatwood, strong as an emergency fire extinguisher earlier this season, didn’t have it. He promptly hit Christian Arroyo, gave up a run-scoring walk to Marwin Gonzalez and then hit Dalbec. Vut Tim Mayza got the Blue Jays out of the jam up 5-4.
Edwards then gave that up in the eighth, when Arroyo took him deep. After the Blue Jays left the bases loaded in the top of the ninth, Bichette’s errant throw in the bottom of the inning allowed Hernandez to reach second. Verdugo then took Rafael Dolis off the wall to win it.
