They are the Blue Jays equivalent of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern — gadding about the bottom of the batting order like those two peripheral yet constant characters in “Hamlet.â€
Although we should make it at least a trio, adding Tyler Heineman to the dramatis personae alongside Ernie Clement and Will Wagner, far more than mere spear carriers in the uptempo chronology that’s unfolded around baseball in ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ lo these past couple of months.
The company cast does change, down in the nether regions of the lineup, with star turns from different individuals in any given game.
A resurgent Vladimir Guerrero Jr. would go a long way to help ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ win the AL East.Â
The bottom of the order, five through nine, went 10-for-18 and seven through nine drove in all six runs in Saturday afternoon’s 6-3 dismissal of the San Francisco Giants, ensuring the team’s 18th series win on the season ahead of Sunday’s high noon start close-out. (Manager John Schneider: “Sleep quick.’’)
Hail the supporting characters, and that doesn’t even include Addison Barger who had a career-high four hits. Or starter Eric Lauer — where would the Jays be without that roto fill — who earned his fifth win. Most crucially, keeping his team well within strike-back proximity until the bats jumped to the crack in the bottom of the sixth.
Clement, who’s been a panning golden nugget pretty much since the beginning of the team’s charge from American League East sludge to top of the division, got ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ on the board in that sixth frame, after the Giants took a 2-0 lead: an RBI single off a full-count sweeper from San Fran starter Logan Webb — fresh off a scoreless relief inning at the all-star game — and then racing first to home on Heineman’s double.
“When the bottom of the order can get it done, it takes a lot of pressure off the top,’’ said Clement. “That’s our job.’’
ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ is expected to be one of the most aggressive shoppers at the July 31 MLB trade deadline.
Rather an emergency responder job on a jerry-rigged lineup with some mystifying swatting lag up in the three-hole from Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who hit into his 18th double-play in the first inning — halfway to Jim Rice’s single-season record of 36 DPs. Hey Vladdy, pick up the pace for the baseball annals!
Clement was thinking all the way home right off the crack of Barger’s bat.
“It was a head-high line drive, so I was off on contact. I knew that the second baseman wasn’t going to get there. I was just trying to score for my guy, get him those RBIs and get us those runs. I was busting right out of the gate.’’
Clement, as per team stats scavengers, is putting the ball in play with runners in scoring position 50.6 per cent of the time this season, third-best mark among qualified AL hitters by the time Jeff Hoffman induced the final out on another double-play with Guerrero wishboning at first, a call that stood after a crew chief review.
Wagner, looking more like the good-feel Wagner of last August (not many good feels around this outfit in 2024), plated a pair of runs in that sixth with a double down the right-field line. Since being recalled from Triple-A Buffalo in late June, he’s gone 11-for-33 with five doubles, four RBIs, eight runs scored and a .921 OPS.
It’s been 34 years since ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ last hosted a Midsummer Classic, and a report suggests that the
“One through nine, we’re pretty good, pretty strong,’’ said Wagner. But of the bottom bracket: “We’re just trying to put good at-bats together, that put us in good counts and be ready to hit.’’
Wagner made excellent use of his time dragged back to the minors, finessing adjustments: “I put a leg kick into my swing, just to buy myself a little bit more time, see the ball a little longer.’’
Down in the nine-hole, Heineman drove in the game-winning run with a double in the sixth and reamed open more breathing room with a two-run four-bagger in the eighth, his first career game with multiple extra-base hits. Not half bad for a guy who spent a decade trying to get his foot in the big-league door and keep it there.
But credit Lauer for getting the Jays to their happy place. The southpaw K’d five of the first six Giants he faced and was pitching perfect until Willy Adames’ first jack (of two, the second off Chad Green) in the fifth on a fat fastball right down the middle. Otherwise, a whole bunch of outs on two-strike counts with cutters and fastballs, working at a high pace.
Guests: Paul Sun-Hyung Lee of Kim’s Convenience and The Mandalorian, Second City Veteran/TV …
“It makes you feel like you’re getting in a groove, getting in a rhythm. Just really attacking the zone, staying on top of hitters. It makes you feel like the hitters are a little more uncomfortable in the box and that’s the game plan, that’s what you want.’’
The 30-year-old “little brother’’ on the starting staff got full chops from the “supporting players’’ in the lineup.
Asked where Lauer would slot into the unheralded cast, Clement didn’t have to give it even a moment’s thought: “One, probably. What he’s been able to do, come in and give us a chance to win every game, it’s invaluable.
“He’s been probably our unsung MVP so far.’’
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