Vladimir Guerrero Jr. remained out of the Blue Jays' starting lineup on Tuesday night against the Pirates, but Toronto received good news on its five-time All-Star.
An MRI exam revealed "just inflammation" in Guerrero's left hamstring, and the first baseman is day to day, manager John Schneider said before Tuesday's game.
Guerrero was removed in the fifth inning of Monday’s 5-2 loss to the Pirates at PNC Park with the injury, which he sustained in the bottom of the third, when he dropped into the splits to make a tremendous inning-ending pick on a throw from Bo Bichette. The play has become one of Guerrero's trademarks as a defender at first base, but he popped right back up and began to jog off the field.
“It’s just day-to-day, really. Whether that’s tonight, tomorrow or after the [Thursday] off-day, we’ll kind of just base it around how he’s feeling,” Schneider said pregame Tuesday. “I think he was reassured, as were we, with the results today.”
Guerrero went out for the next innings, too, which included a couple throws over to first. Quietly, one of Guerrero’s biggest strengths as a player is that he almost never misses a game, so when he comes out of one, it means something.
“He wanted to test it out a little bit and wanted to be sure that he wasn’t going to really aggravate it. I trust him, and he knows himself really well,” Schneider said. “We can’t afford to lose him for an extended period of time, so it was partially precautionary, too."
Guerrero has been on a tear lately, completely recapturing the hot stretch we witnessed through the late summer a year ago at the best possible time. He came into this series against the Pirates with a .333 average and a 1.012 OPS over the past 40 games since the beginning of July, including nine home runs and 24 RBIs. He’s always been close, but Vladdy has finally found that perfect balance of game-changing power while still being a true “hitter,” which has always been his greatest gift.