TORONTO -- Anthony Santander’s reaction didn’t tell the story. He spent all 26 seconds exhaling as he jogged around the bases.
It was the reaction in the Blue Jays’ dugout behind Santander that captured what his two-run home run really meant in Tuesday’s 3-0 win over the Padres.
Manager John Schneider was yelling at that baseball the second Santander turned on it, as if the sound of his voice alone could push it a few inches further. Daulton Varsho shot off the dugout bench like a Jack-in-the-box toy. Edwin Encarnacion could have crushed a bowling ball between his hands when he slammed them together. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. looked to the sky, arms outstretched in appreciation.
“That was amazing,” Santander said, beaming in front of the cameras. “When you’re in a slump, your team having your back is amazing. That just gives you more energy to keep working and keep competing to help the team.”
This wasn’t just the right moment, it was the right time, and that dugout reaction comes because this Blue Jays team, in the simplest terms, cares about Santander.
"They’ve been with me since Day 1,” Santander said. “At the start of the season, when I was struggling, they were still having my back. That’s pretty cool.”
Santander has been struggling, and even with his reputation as a slow starter who heats up a month into the season, patience was quickly expiring. He’s battled shoulder and hip issues as much as he’s battled his own swing, and over the weekend, Schneider had to sit down with the man who’d signed a five-year, $92.5 million deal and tell him that he was being moved down the lineup.
Santander is a professional, beloved around the league for good reason, but there was no silver lining to the news. This wasn’t supposed to be how things started for the slugger who hit 44 home runs just a year ago, brought north to Toronto to inject some of the same into this lineup. When Santander isn’t hitting for power, it’s awfully noticeable given that he doesn’t hit for a high average, so there’s been no escaping this unwanted spotlight.
Tuesday, with one swing, the mood changed. Nothing has been solved and there’s been no grand revelation, but this is the type of moment that can point a player back in the right direction.
“That’s awesome,” Schneider said. “It’s what he does best. I thought he took really good swings today and that was a mistake slider there from [Padres starter Dylan] Cease. He’s tough. You’re not going to pile up a ton of hits against him. It just felt good and the whole dugout loved it, so I’m sure it felt good for him, too. Really, really encouraged with his swings today.”
The home run looked like something only Giancarlo Stanton or Guerrero could pull off, a scorching line drive that just never came down. The launch angle on Santander’s home run was just 19 degrees, and off the bat, it looked like a line drive that didn’t have a chance. This was tied for the fourth-lowest launch angle on a home run in Santander’s career, just shy of his low of 18 degrees (three times).
This came on a night where everything went right for the Blue Jays. It’s rarely looked this simple in such a complicated season, cluttered with one-run games.
Guerrero's first-inning homer broke the ice, which is something the Blue Jays have been talking about as a team after putting too much stress on their starters. Coming into this series, the Blue Jays had scored the first run in just 18 of their 46 games, the third-fewest in baseball ahead of only the Rockies (15) and Marlins (17). That’s not the type of company they’re trying to keep.
Chris Bassitt pitched another gem, too, lowering his ERA to 2.83 with six scoreless innings. Bassitt has never looked more in control of his own game with the Blue Jays, making him the perfect pitcher to hand a lead to. He even let a little emotion show when he finished off the sixth.
“I was tired of getting pulled at 5 2/3 or 5 1/3 [innings], but I understand why,” Bassitt said, cracking a smile himself. “So, yeah, I was happy with that.”
This is what a clean, simple win feels like, and it’s not a familiar feeling for this 2025 Blue Jays team. Santander can change that in a hurry, though, and finally, the slugger is starting to look like himself.