Blue Jays Clutch Plays: The Homers Came Back!

As if things couldn't get any more demoralizing after a series loss in Sacramento last week, the Jays opened their crucial weekend set against the Orioles with another loss that was never particularly close. Yet, here they stand, back to .500 after winning on Saturday and Sunday to end the week on a positive note. They hit five home runs across those two games, including Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s first at the Rogers Centre since Game 6 of last year's ALCS. Entering Monday, they're a game back of the Guardians for the final Wild Card spot, tiebreaker in hand with 12 games to go.

Pitching

3. Dylan Cease: Samuel Basallo Strikeout, Top 1, 9/13 (+7.4% WPA)

The Blue Jays' ace had to pull off quite the tightrope act to escape the 1st inning on Sunday after loading the bases with nobody out. Naturally, he struck out the next three hitters and kept the game scoreless. By WPA, the most significant of these punchouts was Basallo's because it resulted in the second out of the inning, making it impossible for the next batter to make an out and still drive in a run.

2. Louis Varland: Jonah Heim Lineout, Bot 9, 9/7 (+9.6% WPA)

Last Monday night at Sutter Health Park was about the most human Varland has looked in his spectacular 2026 season. What made the Athletics' eventual walk-off win especially painful for the Jays was the fact that Varland, despite walking the number seven hitter and allowing four players to reach during the inning, was just one out away from sending the game to extras after Heim tagged this changeup straight into the glove of Brett Bateman in center field.

1. Louis Varland: Alika Williams Bunt Force Out, Bot 9, 9/7 (+9.6% WPA)

It's not like everything went exactly how the A's drew it up on Monday either. With the first two men on base, Williams tried to bunt the winning run over to third, but he put just a little too much on it, and Guerrero was ready, charging in from first and firing a cannon to force Darell Hernaiz at third. For how much of a struggle it's been with the bat, Guerrero has easily had the best season of his career defensively.

Hitting

3. George Springer: Solo HR, Bot 5, 9/13 (+15.6% WPA)

With nobody on and two outs in the bottom of the fifth, it was Springer who started the dinger parade with the first of three consecutive home runs the Blue Jays would hit off Trevor Rogers. Behind in the count 1-0, Rogers tried to drop a changeup on the lower outside corner but left it a tad high. Springer stayed on it, getting just enough of it to send it into Baltimore's bullpen in right field.

2. Andrés Giménez: RBI Double, Top 7, 9/7 (+21.2% WPA)

Before anything that happened in the bottom of the ninth was possible last Monday, the Blue Jays nearly mounted a remarkable comeback thanks almost entirely to Giménez, who continues to deliver in high-leverage despite poor offensive stats overall. With Jacob Lopez nearing the end of the line, Giménez, the tying run, stayed on a two-strike fastball from the lefty and sent it on a line into the opposite-field corner to score Nathan Lukes.

1. Andrés Giménez: Solo HR, Top 9, 9/7 (+35.3% WPA)

Had the Jays completed the comeback, Giménez's effort would've been talked about a lot more. Both of his pivotal extra-base hits in the later innings came against lefty pitching. On for the save, Hogan Harris threw a slow, looping curveball that stayed on the corner down and in, playing right into Giménez's bat path. The shortstop launched it beyond the bullpens in right-center field, and even though it was quickly rendered moot, he became an unlikely hero by making the game close.