TORONTO – Over the winter, as he kicked around plans for the upcoming season, Daulton Varsho decided to start keeping a notebook. The idea was to collect the various thoughts he had during games – how he’d been pitched, what he felt at the plate, things he wanted to work on – in one place for easy reference.
Amid his recent slide, a 3-for-41 rut he carried into Saturday, “I’ve actually gone to it a couple of times,” said the Toronto Blue Jays outfielder, eager to write up his next entry after his walk-off single in the 10th inning beat the Seattle Mariners 1-0.
“Obviously it’s going to be a big one – just stop thinking, go up there and compete,” said Varsho. “Being able to enjoy the win and being able to be a part of it was awesome for me. It just gave me some confidence back. Like, yeah, they walked (Matt Chapman) in front of me, they didn’t think that I could do it and it just shows them that I can. Struggle sometimes feels long, but it’s not longer than what you think.”
The moment was a long time coming for Varsho, who was riding an 0-for-18 drought that included waving through a Matt Brash slider in the dirt for strike three with Chapman at second to end the seventh.
His last hit, a solo shot against the New York Yankees, came last Sunday, his only RBI in 18 games. He’d driven in only five runs all season, a suboptimal total for someone usually batting fourth if not third or fifth in the lineup. The lack of production has made him “his own harshest critic for a while,” said manager John Schneider.
But in the 10th, after a lockdown top half from Erik Swanson that fulfilled the club’s mantra of making things easier for your teammates, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. laced a single at 111.8 m.p.h. to centre that was too hard for Bo Bichette to score on.
The Mariners intentionally walked Chapman to load the bases and set up the potential for a force at home or a double play. Instead, Varsho sent a 94 m.p.h. fastball from Trevor Gott into the right-centre field gap at 100.5 m.p.h., let out a cathartic scream in the infield and then got mobbed by his teammates, where Whit Merrifield shoved a shaving-cream pie in his face.
Aside from making sure to keep his eyes closed when Merrifield is lurking, the point Varsho was eager to jot down a “simple thing” in his notebook.
“Honestly, that was the first at-bat in a couple games where I just turned my brain off and went up there to go compete and have fun,” he explained. “This game can be pretty tough. And when you’re trying to do something (specific), usually it doesn’t work out. So shut the brain off, go compete and have fun.”
In recent days, he “100 per cent” had been thinking too much at the plate because “we’re all trying to get hits when we’re going through a bad stretch. One (unsuccessful at-bat) compounds over the next one. Once you’re able to turn it off, it’s a lot of fun being able to do it.”
Varsho’s second career walk-off hit ensured another brilliant day of pitching from the Blue Jays wasn’t lost before a crowd of 41,475. Mariners starter Easton McGee, a last minute call-up from triple-A, kept them hitless until Chapman’s laser-beam double off the wall in centre with two out in the seventh, but Kevin Gausman kept his team right there with seven shutty of his own, including a career-best 13 strikeouts.
Not even a 90.9 m.p.h. liner off the left hamstring from Jarred Kelenic could slow the right-hander down and Blue Jays starters have allowed just seven earned runs in 63.1 innings over the past 10 games.
“We’re throwing the crap out of it right now,” said Gausman, who didn’t expect any issues from his bruised hamstring. “Our pitchers are really, really doing a great job of just attacking and next guy up.”
The bullpen has done its part, too, not allowing a hit, let alone a run, in 15 innings during the current homestand and the dominance on the mound is underpinning a six-game win streak that has pushed the Blue Jays to 18-9, tying a club record for best start through 27 games.
Danny Jansen has called shutouts in the last three games he’s caught.
“I have the mentality of attacking guys right now, you know what I mean? Like going right after them,” he said. “The pitchers have the same mentality and that’s the reason why they’re getting ahead and they’re going after guys. This defence is so good, too, that we’re not scared if there are balls in play, we like our chances for sure behind us. It’s been great. It’s just been aggressive.”
Varsho, a self-described “perfectionist” which can be “kind of a fault at times,” had found other ways to contribute during his slump between his defence, baserunning and intensity on the field, but was both excited and relieved to have found a way to chip in.
The first walk-off hit of his career came Aug. 13, 2021 with the Arizona Diamondbacks, when his homer beat the San Diego Padres. But the celebration this time, including the shaving-cream pie from Merrifield, “was probably the best one ever.”
Within earshot one locker stall over, Merrifield cracked, “that’s so sweet.”
Sarcasm or not, for Varsho it very much is.
