The Toronto Blue Jays were staring down a series sweep at the hands of the division-rival Tampa Bay Rays - for the second time in the past 10 days - until Daulton Varsho came through in a big way.
The Rays took a 3-1 lead in the top of the 10th inning - similar to Tuesday’s game, where the Rays took a 7-5 lead in extras and held on for a 7-6 victory.
A loss would have been Toronto’s eighth in their past 10 games, but after Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Kazuma Okamoto worked back-to-back one-out walks, Varsho stepped up to the plate. The 29-year-old outfielder fought off a few pitches before connecting on an opposite-field grand slam to give the Blue Jays a dramatic 5-3 victory.
“That’s big, man. It’s a big win,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said to reporters after the game. “It was a tough series and it’s easy to think things weren’t going our way when they were playing well and pitching well. We just needed a big hit and we got it.”
The Blue Jays have needed a spark like that for weeks, as the team has continued to spin the tires amidst a slow start. Following last year’s historic campaign that ended in heartbreak in the 10th inning of Game 7 of the World Series, a 19-24 record has not been the start the team envisioned in 2026.
“It can loosen up the clubhouse a little bit,” Varsho said after the game. “Knowing that we needed to have something to happen like that to take a deep breath and relax, it’s a big win.”
“It’s no secret that all of us were grinding a little bit to start the season. We’ve been having good at-bats, but kind of having some [bad] luck at times and lining out to people. It’s a long season. Hopefully we can get some guys back to help our lineup a little bit.”
Varsho’s summary highlighted the two major issues the team has dealt with so far - they haven’t hit well, and they’ve had a rash of injuries.
The Blue Jays are tied for 21st in the majors with 40 home runs as a team, and sit 20th in runs scored with 4.19 per game - way down from their 4.93 per game a year ago that ranked fourth in the league.
Part of that can be blamed on bad injury luck, as lineup mainstays George Springer, Alejandro Kirk and Addison Barger have all missed significant time through the first month and a half of the season.
But even some of the healthy players have struggled so far - Guerrero has hit just two home runs in 181 plate appearances, and is slugging .372, more than 100 points below his career slugging percentage.
Even Varsho’s home run was just his fifth of the season after hitting 20 in 71 games a season ago and launching five in 19 games in a strong Spring Training showing in March.
“The more we can take these moments, grasp onto them and feel the fact that we’re playing together, it’s great,” Schneider said. “That was huge for Varsho. It was huge for him.”
The biggest free-agent acquisition of the off-season for the Blue Jays, pitcher Dylan Cease, put together a masterful performance in Wednesday’s win, pitching seven one-run innings with nine strikeouts.
The start dropped his earned-run average on the season to 2.41, and upped his strikeout total to 75 through 52.1 innings, the most in the American League.
“That was great. That’s exciting right there. That’s what the fans come for,” Cease said. “And that’s what we all expect on this team, to be honest.”
Toronto is now 1-5 against the Rays on the year and sit 9.5 games behind Tampa Bay for the division lead. It’s a deep hole for the middle of May, but wins like that can be a starting point for the season to turn around.
The team is hoping to take lessons from that series moving forward.
“You don’t have to be the selfish one to get that hit or make that pitch,” Varsho said. “Trust the guy behind you. Trust everybody in this lineup and this clubhouse. Go out there and give it your all every day. Trust it, because that’s how we win a lot of ball games.”
The Blue Jays begin a potentially pivotal road trip in Detroit on Friday. After three games against the Tigers, they play four games in New York for their first series of the year against the Yankees, who are tied atop the AL East standings with the Rays.
