TORONTO – The Toronto Blue Jays received a boost from Davis Schneider when he made his major-league debut at Fenway Park earlier this month. Now, the second baseman is doing his best to administer a second dose to a club desperately looking for offence as it chases down a wild-card spot.
The rookie, who earned the nickname “Babe Schneider” from teammates after a historic opening to his MLB career, enjoyed a huge offensive performance on Saturday to lead the Blue Jays to an 8-3 win over the Cleveland Guardians in front of 41,924 at Rogers Centre.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Blue Jays, who entered Saturday 1.5 games out of a wild-card spot.
Schneider, playing in his first game in seven days, launched a 1-1 fastball from Guardians starter Logan Allen over the left-field fence for a two-run home run in the first inning. That gave the Blue Jays a 3-1 lead and in the fourth frame, Schneider helped add to the lead by opening the inning with a double and then scoring on Matt Chapman’s single up the middle.
The “Babe” also added a walk in the fifth and ripped an RBI single in the seventh to push the score to 6-3.
The 24-year-old was promoted to the Blue Jays on Aug. 4 following a torrid season with the triple-A Buffalo Bisons and immediately made an impact, becoming the first player in MLB history to record nine hits and two home runs in his first three games. Schneider cooled down considerably after that, recording just one hit over his next five games, but now has homers in consecutive contests, even if they are a week apart.
The Blue Jays have opted to start Schneider, a right-handed hitter, mostly against left-handers and because the club hasn’t faced one since last Saturday in Cincinnati, he hasn’t played. However, with the team expressing a need for more “urgency” over the remaining 32 games, that might need to change. Schneider has shown considerable power and has four homers in 10 games this season after hitting 21 balls out of the park in 87 triple-A games.
And, for what it’s worth, the Blue Jays are 7-2 when he’s in the starting lineup.
Schneider’s work on Saturday helped support Blue Jays’ starter Hyun Jin Ryu, who pitched well but would’ve had a much cleaner pitching line if not for some errors behind him. Ryu allowed solo homers to Jose Ramirez in the first inning and Tyler Freeman in the fifth but was that was the extent of the damage.
The Guardians loaded the bases off Ryu in the sixth inning when Kole Calhoun singled and Ramirez and Oscar Gonzalez reached on back-to-back errors by third baseman Chapman and shortstop Santiago Espinal. Right-hander Yimi Garcia then entered the game and hit the first batter he faced to push across a run, but then struck out the next three batters.
That closed the book on Ryu’s outing. The left-hander allowed three runs, two earned, on four hits over five-plus innings with no walks and five strikeouts across 70 pitches.
The Blue Jays will now look to take the rubber match of the three-game series and with right-hander Noah Syndergaard slated to take the mound for the Guardians, the question becomes will Schneider be in the lineup?
While he’s been deadly against left-handers during his brief stint in the majors, Schneider’s not exactly proven a slouch against right-handers. His RBI single in the seventh inning on Saturday came against Guardians right-hander James Karinchak and in 19 plate appearances against righties, Schneider has recorded six hits and three walks.
As well, Schneider tallied 17 home runs and a 1.070 OPS against right-handed pitchers across 82 games at triple-A this season.
