The Toronto Blue Jays struck gold Thursday night as Daulton Varsho's sixth-inning grand slam sent them flying to a 6-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox at Rogers Centre.
The win keeps Toronto tied with the New York Yankees atop the AL East, and while New York eked out a 5-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox, the Blue Jays still hold the upper hand, clutching the tiebreaker like a trump card as the regular season winds down.
Varsho’s grand slam, his second of the season, broke a 0-0 stalemate and came after a tense stretch in which the Blue Jays had fought to hold onto their five-game AL East lead. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. reached on an error by Trevor Story, followed by a walk to Addison Barger and a hit-by-pitch to Anthony Santander, loading the bases with no outs. Varsho then crushed a 0-2 fastball from Justin Wilson 371 feet to right field, electrifying a crowd of 42,129. The surge continued when Andres Gimenez doubled and George Springer hit his 31st home run of the season, bringing a six-run inning to a close that ultimately decided the game.
Earlier in the day, Varsho had already given hitting coach David Popkins a peek into his mindset.
“A lot of people didn’t pick us to win the division,” Varsho told Popkins. “We exceeded everybody’s standards. Now that everybody is holding us to that standard, we’ve got to win the division. And it’s like, screw it. We already have house money. Let’s keep going, and let’s play the way we’ve always played.”
His words turned into action in the sixth inning, setting off a rally for a team that had recently flirted with disappointment.
Toronto bullpen was nearly flawless, combining for a perfect game through the first six innings, something MLB history has yet to see completed. Louis Varland opened with two innings of perfect, three-strikeout baseball, Eric Lauer worked 3.1 hitless frames, and Yariel Rodriguez added two outs. Braydon Fisher, Seranthony Domínguez, Brendon Little, and Jeff Hoffman handled the remaining innings to put the game away, giving the Blue Jays their second win in eight outings and keeping their AL East magic number at three.
Boston, on the other hand, had opportunities early but failed to capitalize. Nathan Lukes tripled in the first inning and made a diving catch in the fifth, while Anthony Santander hit a long drive foul in the third. Red Sox starter Brayan Bello pitched five scoreless innings, escaping multiple jams, but a disastrous sixth inning derailed Boston’s postseason hopes. They did not get their first hit until Jarren Duran doubled with two outs in the seventh, leading to a Story RBI single, and were otherwise stifled by Toronto’s pitching and defense.
brace for a decisive three-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays.
