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TORONTO – Needing a win to stay afloat in an American League Wild Card race that gets closer and more chaotic by the hour, the bottom of the Blue Jays roster has them given another day of life.
Danny Jansen and Cavan Biggio were not expected to star in the Blue Jays’ biggest game of the season, but each showed up at the right time in Toronto’s 6-4 win on Friday night against the Orioles at Rogers Center. For Jansen, it continues an encouraging end to the season which saw him reappear as the man behind the plate. For Biggio, it’s a big reintroduction after six months of struggling to find traction.
The victory kept the Blue Jays to a game for the Red Sox, who beat the Nationals, 4-2, on Friday, for second place AL Wild Card. Toronto is now tied with the Mariners, who lost to the Angels, 2-1. The Yankees, who lost to the Rays, have only one game lead over Boston for the Wild Cards’ first place.
The short version? Four teams are separated by two games with only two games remaining on the schedule. Buckle up.
Jansen started the Blue Jays with a two-run homerun in the third, and the 26-year-old has quietly been one of the Blue Jays’ top hitters in September and October. By the time Jansen reached the injured list for the second time this season on July 23, he was reaching .176 with a .595 OPS. With Alejandro Kirk on the scene and No.1 prospect Gabriel Moreno generating waves of underage hype, it was easy to dismiss Jansen, but he earned his way to the top of the ladder and did it admirably. .
“This is how you win games,” said manager Charlie Montoyo. “That’s how we win 90 games. It must happen. There’s no way the top of the line can carry you all the time, and that’s what happened last month for sure. Lourdes Gurriel [Jr.] hitting the seventh and stuff like that, but today was [Santiago] Espinal, Biggio and Jansen.
Biggio made the surprise first-base start with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at DH, Biggio’s first MLB game in nearly two months. Montoyo was cheered on by Biggio’s Triple-A beaters as he slowly came back from an elbow injury until August, but he wasn’t exactly breaking the door. Still, there’s a reason these staff and front office continue to trust Biggio despite a long injury season, and he rewarded them with his greatest performance to date.
3v4 with an RBI, aggressive base runs and a handful of solid plays at first base, Biggio exceeded all expectations. It’s only one game, but it’s suddenly easier to imagine Biggio as part of a potential postseason roster, or at least as a contributor in the last two games. With Gurriel still struggling with a hand injury that has stitches and Randal Grichuk struggling, Biggio could win a few more at bat, whether it’s DH, first base, or a late outfield corner. match.
“Those two months of not being able to contribute and just being around the excitement but not being a part of it was like a bit of FOMO [fear of missing out]”Biggio said.” I was coming here ready to contribute in any way I could. Whether it was to continue, to try to take some extra base like I did late … whatever I have to do to help this team win, that’s why I’m here.
It was actually the entire lower half of the roster that led this victory, as Espinal had two hits and Corey Dickerson threw his own solo home run, continuing to show how valuable his left-handed bat is. for this training. The Blue Jays are strong offensively when their first five star clicks, but when the bottom half is there to round it out, that’s when this group gets scary.
Steven Matz set the stage for this, who had one of his best outings of the season with more than seven two-run innings, striking out five strikes. Much like Biggio and Jansen, Matz was not the star of this rotation, but he quietly put together a very valuable season, giving the Blue Jays a 3.82 ERA and keeping their offense in many games like this. .
The Blue Jays probably still need to win, and they might still need the help of the teams facing the Red Sox and Mariners. But they gave themselves another chance. If the stars don’t on Saturday, Friday’s win is another example of how any corner of this lineup can take over in the biggest moments.
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