TORONTO -- Just when you think it can’t get any more entertaining, the Blue Jays pull out the walk-off bunt.
Ernie Clement was the hero Friday night at Rogers Centre, dropping the bunt of the year in the awkward zone between the pitcher and the third baseman. By the time reliever Sam Bachman sailed his throw over the head of his first-baseman, the Blue Jays were spilling onto the field to celebrate their 4-3 win in 10 innings.
Manager John Schneider knew immediately when he’d last seen a walk-off bunt -- these things tend to be memorable -- in 2018, when he put on the safety squeeze as a manager for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in Double-A. Ernie Clement had never seen one until he authored the moment, but it counts just the same in the win column as a 500-foot home run would have.
“I got to practice bunting a lot in college. They made me bunt a lot when they didn’t know I could hit,” Clement said. “Then, as they realized I could hit, I stopped bunting, but I was always practicing. Whatever it takes for the team was the common theme in college and it’s kind of where we’re at now. You’ve got to stick your nose in.”
The win is the Blue Jays’ sixth in a row, their longest winning streak of the season as they now sit more comfortably in first place in the American League East, two games up on both the Yankees and Rays.
But this one felt so much different than any win from the four-game sweep of the Yankees earlier this week. Those were heavyweight tilts, back-and-forth slugfests that felt like classic, AL East baseball. Friday night against the Angels wasn’t nearly as clean, so it took a small moment to break it open. It left Schneider pointing back to an old quote from hitting coach David Popkins in Spring Training, when he said that great offenses don’t just beat you one way, they can beat you every way.
“These guys don’t care who it is and they don’t care how we do it,” Schneider said, “and that is a really good quality to have when you’re playing every single night in the middle of 16 games in a row. That’s how we’re built. I love the way the guys are feeding into it each and every night.”
Eric Lauer set the stage for all of this with one of his finest performances yet, continuing a dream season that has saved the Blue Jays’ rotation. Lauer gave the Blue Jays six-plus innings, the only two runs charged against him coming on a home run surrendered by Nick Sandlin moments after Lauer was removed in the seventh, leaving him with a 2.65 ERA through his first 51 innings with the Blue Jays.
“This is fun, man. Winning is fun and we never feel like we’re out of a game,” Lauer said. “We always have a chance and we’re putting it together really well. It’s been really fun.”
This isn’t new to Lauer, but none of this was expected. Still just 30, Lauer has tasted success in the big leagues before, most notably in 2021 and ‘22 with the Brewers where he posted a 3.37 ERA across 277 1/3 innings. Lauer’s numbers soon fell off, though, and after getting stuck in the mud in Triple-A, he ended up pitching in Korea in ‘24, an idea he wanted nothing to do with at the time until he embraced the “amazing experience." By the time he signed a Minor League deal with the Blue Jays in the spring, Lauer felt like just another depth arm who would spend a summer in Buffalo.
“He’s been really, really good,” said Chris Bassitt, never one for empty praise. “He throws multiple pitches in different spots to keep guys off balance and he throws a lot of strikes. He’s been a calming presence for us. He’s been possibly our best starter the last couple of weeks. I can’t say enough good things about what he’s done and how good of a pitcher he is.”
Stories like these are what this team needed coming into 2025. It’s pleasant surprises like these that can turn an average team into a good one. Right now, the Blue Jays are making the jump from a good team to a great one, and they’ve got all the momentum in the world with a postseason run laid out in front of them.