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TORONTO – This is what the home advantage is supposed to look, feel and sound like. When George Springer put the barrel against the ball and then stepped out of the batter’s box, the excitement at the Rogers Center increased with every step he took.
The Blue Jays were led by five points at the start with their ace ousted, but they fought back. And by the eighth inning, as the game neared its fourth hour, most of the 14,776 spectators were on their feet as Springer darted around first base to celebrate his three-run homerun, which lifted Toronto up. . to a superb 9-8 win over Boston.
“It’s just indescribable,” Springer said after his biggest hit as Blue Jay. “We just fought and wrestled and scratched and scratched all day.”
Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo, brimming with pride and sweat from the team’s post-game party, couldn’t contain his smile.
“It was like a playoff game,” said Montoyo. “We kind of needed to win this game. And I don’t mean necessary, because every game counts … [but] if we take today, it’s three out of four against a good team. And to come back like that, it doesn’t get better than that.
Yes, Sunday’s victory marked three wins in four games against the Red Sox, who hold the No. 1 spot for the American League Wild Cards. The book is now closed on the Blue Jays-Red Sox series of seasons, with Toronto going 9-10 despite a plus-30 points differential. However, the Blue Jays have won five of the last seven clashes, which suggests that the balance of power between the teams is shifting.
A huge reason for this is a healthy, burning Springer. He’s been among the league’s busiest hitters over the past few weeks, and now his home fans have seen it for themselves. Entering Sunday, the center fielder had a line of .353 / .411 / .776 in 22 games since the all-star break. He added to that with a walk, a single and the game-changing home run.
Blue Jays fans, who learned patience as their baseball team spent a season and a half south of the border, had to wait a few months to see Springer at his peak. These injury-scarred weeks have taken a heavy toll on him as well, but he’s just happy to have passed the stage.
“It was hectic, it was crazy,” Springer. “I didn’t really start the way I would like it to start. Visibly hurt yourself. But at this point it’s all about staying in the moment.
Sunday, the moment belonged to Springer. But it took an unrecognized effort from wide receiver Reese McGuire to get there.
With one in play and two strikeouts in the eighth, McGuire worked a nine-length ball to keep the inning alive. He took the second strike, a fastball off the inside edge, and fouled three more heaters before a fourth sailed well on the outside.
Springer called him “at bat of the game,” which is modest but not entirely wrong. One at bat leads to another, and McGuire’s run was just as important. And with that, an almost perfect homestand was complete.
Ten days earlier, the long-awaited return of the Blue Jays had been greeted with pomp and justifiable circumstances. Toronto took advantage of its exuberant crowd and gave fans nine wins in 11 games at Rogers Center, reserving its most thrilling triumph for last.
After a Monday off – the first in Toronto in two weeks – the Blue Jays head to the West Coast, where their momentum from the comforts of home will be tested. They are finished with the Red Sox, but key series with the Rays and Yankees loom. Only 2 1/2 games separate Boston (65-49) and Toronto (60-50), with New York (61-50) crushed in between. Strap in for this arrival in the busy American League East.
“I expect it to go to the wire,” Randal Grichuk said on Friday. “I wish we could play even more against all the teams in September, just to create more drama, but it’s four very good teams, very good attacks, very good pitching teams, and it’s going to be played out on thread.”
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