Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has been on a tear over the past two months, and while he may not accomplish the offensive feat he did in 2021, Guerrero Jr. could at least get close to his MVP runner-up season.
Guerrero Jr. currently has a 140 on-base plus slugging plus, meaning he is 40 percent better than the league average in hitting, which is still lower than his MVP season OPS+ but around 25 plus more than in 2023.
Helping those stats tonight was another home run from the first baseman, which was part of a two-hit, two RBIs effort in a 6-3 victory for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Guerrero Jr. hit an RBI single in the first off Rays SP Zach Eflin, then homered in the third inning, his fifth homer in his last six games.
Eflin, besides Guerrero Jr., was able to pitch around Toronto’s lineup, going 5.2 innings and allowing two earned runs. The RHP has been hit or miss in his last four starts, giving up nine earned runs between two starts and only allowing three earned runs in the other two.
Not only was Guerrero Jr. hot at the plate tonight, but Justin Turner had three hits himself, driving in a run in the eighth inning.
The eighth inning was the difference maker for the Blue Jays, where the team put together four runs off Rays pitcher Jason Adam.
After Turner’s base hit, Daulton Varsho would hit a single to drive in two more insurance runs, putting the Jays up 5-2 at the time. Toronto was gifted one more run, as Turner scored from a passed ball, and the Jays were now up by three.
Toronto held a lead throughout the entire game, thanks to SP Yariel Rodriguez and the bullpen. In 9.0 innings between Rodriguez, Brendon Little, Chad Green, Génesis Cabrera, and Yimi García, only three earned runs were given up.
Rodriguez himself went 5.2 innings and gave up two of the three runs on two singles by Josh Lowe and Randy Arozarena. The Cuban-born pitcher hasn’t given up more than two earned runs in an MLB outing since June 21st, facing the Cleveland Guardians.
Tampa got one more run in the ninth, and that would be all the scoring within the game. The Rays could lose their first series since July 5th-7th, depending on if the Blue Jays and SP Chris Bassitt beat them tomorrow.
Bassitt has a solid 3.43 ERA in seven career starts against the Rays, which could be an ideal chance for him to bounce back from a rough three-outing stretch where he’s allowed 12 earned runs over 16.2 innings.
There was also news tonight that affects both Toronto and Tampa Bay as long-time Ray and current Blue Jays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times that 2024 would be his final season.
Kiermaier decision to retire likely extends from the poor 2024 season he’s had hitting-wise and the fact that he admitted that not a lot of teams weren’t interested in signing him during the previous offseason.
While the bat has never been a strong suit for Kiermaier, his defence was arguably the best in the outfield in the 2010s, leading him to win four Gold Gloves and saving over 150 runs on defence in his career.
