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Instant Reaction: Blue Jays hit a season-high three home runs in 7-6 victory over Red Sox

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That was the exact type of game the Toronto Blue Jays needed.

On Wednesday evening, the Blue Jays played the second of three against the Boston Red Sox, winning 7-6 in comeback fashion to snap a three-game losing streak. Let’s take a look at what happened in this one!

 

The Jays struggled in the first inning, shocker. Before they even swung the bat, Rafael Devers scored thanks to a balk from Yariel Rodríguez. Then, Alex Bregman hit a solo home run to make it a 2-0 game.

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In the top of the second, Ceddanne Rafaela scored thanks to Jarren Duran’s RBI single, before Duran scored on Devers’ 10th double of the season. In the top of the sixth, the Red Sox made it a 6-0 game thanks to a home run from Carlos Narváez.

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Something changed in the bottom of the sixth, though. After Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Anthony Santander hit into an out, George Springer earned a two-out walk. The next batter, Daulton Varsho, hit a two-run home run to get the Jays on the board.

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The next batter was catcher Alejandro Kirk, who hit his second home run of the season to cut the Red Sox’s lead in half. Still a ton of work to do, but a positive sign.

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In the bottom of the seventh, Ernie Clement hit a one-out single and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a two-out single to put two on for Anthony Santander with two outs. On a 2-0 count, Santander hit a 398-foot homer with an exit velocity of 103.7 mph to tie the game at six.

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The game headed to extra innings with Guerrero Jr. on second base. Santander didn’t hit the walk-off in the game, as he hit a lineout for the first out. However, both Springer and Varsho were intentionally walked to load the bases for Kirk. The catcher hit a walk-off single for the 7-6 victory.

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Takeaways…

We’re just over a month into the season now, and it’s safe to say that Wednesday’s win could be the most important victory of the season so far. It looked as if the Blue Jays were down and out, on their way to losing their ninth game in their last 10 games. Instead, they had their biggest comeback of the season.

There was only one other time this season where the Blue Jays had a multi-home run game, dating back to April 15. In this game, the Blue Jays hit three home runs, the most homers in a single game for them so far this season.  They needed this desperately.

One area of concern from this game is the fifth spot in the rotation. Yariel Rodríguez started the game, giving up a home run and two earned runs in his inning of work. Eric Lauer pitched the bulk of the game, throwing four innings with two earned runs and four strikeouts. That worked for this game, but a Rodríguez/Lauer piggyback isn’t a sustainable option for the Jays moving forward.

We haven’t seen Jeff Hoffman pitch a whole lot this season, but he’s been nails in every single appearance. Tonight, he pitched two innings with three strikeouts to drop his season ERA to 1.17, reaching the 500 strikeout milestone. Yimi García also threw a scoreless outing, striking out a batter to maintain a perfect ERA.

As a whole, the Blue Jays had 10 hits from this game, with Bo Bichette, Daulton Varsho, Alejandro Kirk, and Ernie Clement each having a two-hit game. Anthony Santander and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had the other two hits. It’d be great to see the bats get going.

On Thursday, the Jays have a chance to snap a three-series losing streak, as they face the Red Sox at 7:07 PM ET. Blue Jays are expected to start José Berríos.

Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.