LOS ANGELES — For a Blue Jays staff that has at occasions struggled to provide you with huge hits, Daulton Varsho definitely got here by means of on Monday evening at Dodger Stadium.
Varsho’s decisive two-run double proved the game-winning hit in Toronto’s 6-3 victory over the Dodgers in 11 innings.
“Big spot for him,” mentioned supervisor John Schneider. “Large knock in a giant spot. That hopefully does wonders for him.”
Going up towards the Nationwide League West division leaders, the Blue Jays knew that they had their work lower out for them, they usually performed an in depth recreation all evening. Matt Chapman’s eighth-inning homer — his first dwelling run in 42 at-bats relationship again to July 6 — briefly gave them the lead, earlier than Max Muncy re-tied it within the backside of the body.
After the bullpens exchanged zeros within the ninth and tenth, the Blue Jays bought off to a promising begin within the eleventh, with Chapman reaching on a throwing error and Whit Merrifield loading the bases with a single, one in every of 4 hits he had on the evening. Dodgers reliever Phil Bickford then left a 1-0 fastball over the guts of the plate for Varsho and he didn’t miss, driving it to proper discipline. The ball evaded Jason Heyward’s glove and hopped to the wall, permitting two runs to attain.
“I believe it is by means of all the hassle and on a regular basis, preparation,” Varsho mentioned when requested how he managed to remain within the second. “Understanding who the pitcher is, placing all that collectively and attempting to not do an excessive amount of, attempting to get your pitch and attempt to keep as low-key as you’ll be able to.”
It’s been a tough month in an general tough yr for Varsho, whom the Blue Jays acquired from the D-backs over the offseason in change for Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Gabriel Moreno. Coming off a few strong seasons with Arizona, Varsho was batting .212 with a .628 OPS by means of 98 video games coming into play Monday. In July, he’d gone simply 7-for-51 (.137) with no extra-base hits previous to his double towards the Dodgers.
Monday’s heroics received’t change the stat line dramatically, however they did present Varsho with a signature second together with his new staff.
“You gotta maintain your head up, gotta maintain grinding and also you gotta assist this staff win any approach potential,” mentioned Varsho. “… Having the ability to provide you with one other alternative once more and getting it achieved, it was an amazing feeling.”
After Varsho’s hit, Toronto picked up an insurance coverage run on back-to-back walks to Alejandro Kirk and Bo Bichette.
Jordan Romano then held issues down within the backside of the eleventh, selecting up his twenty eighth save, tying him with the Orioles’ Félix Bautista for essentially the most within the American League.
Romano’s outing was interrupted by the membership’s coach coming to have a look at him following the second out, however Romano is “wonderful,” in keeping with Schneider.
“Simply form of Jordy strolling like Jordy a bit of bit,” mentioned Schneider. “After having a bit of again factor, simply needed to verify.”
One more nail-biter that got here proper all the way down to the wire, the Blue Jays have definitely grown accustomed to video games which might be shut within the late innings. Prior to now week alone, all however one in every of Toronto’s seven video games had a margin of no better than two runs within the late innings.
And the Blue Jays have taken discover of this pattern.
“It looks like these guys are examined mentally each evening,” mentioned Schneider. “It looks like video games are shut, video games are tight, there’s huge spots whether or not we’re hitting or once we’re on protection. So hopefully, that makes us a bit of bit extra battle-tested down the highway and turns into a bit of bit extra pure for the blokes as we go. … not that you really want it to be like that each evening.”
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Printed : 2023-07-25 07:12:00
