TORONTO -- It’s never too late to rally.
The Blue Jays truly believe that this year. One by one, their hitters are echoing that sentiment and coming through in the big moments. Not all of their 12 comeback wins have been as dramatic as Saturday afternoon’s 2-1 walk-off victory over the Tigers, but they’ve all featured the same conviction.
“We're never out of the game,” said Ernie Clement, who won it with a two-out RBI single in the ninth. “It's so much fun to play for a team [where] that's the feeling. …
“It's nice to scratch a couple late, and it's even nicer knowing you're never out of the game. Even when you're down five, six runs early, you can always come back. It's a really special group.”
We’ve heard this before, seemingly from every corner of the Blue Jays’ clubhouse. There’s a different feeling around this club, a serenity that comes from knowing what you’re made of. It didn’t matter that Toronto had managed just one hit over the first seven innings, stifled by a great performance from Tigers starter Reese Olson. The Blue Jays were never out of it.
They took their time, but it was Clement who got it started in the eighth, working a leadoff walk and scoring on an RBI single from pinch-hitter Alejandro Kirk. Clement came back up with Daulton Varsho at second and two out in the bottom of the ninth after the Tigers chose to intentionally walk another pinch-hitter in Anthony Santander.
Clement is at his best when he’s aggressive. It also helps that he has gone back to the great contact skills that made him a bright spot for the Blue Jays last season. All of it was on display in that short at-bat in the ninth. Soon, the crowd of 40,171 erupted, and Clement’s teammates darted onto the field from the dugout.
“Those games are tough,” said manager John Schneider. “That's a good team. And you had to scrap and claw for every little thing. Really happy with the way the guys responded.”
There were a lot of scrappy qualities about this one, something few guys embody better than Clement.
Making just his second career start at first base as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got a day at DH, Clement went down in his first at-bat after fouling a pitch off his knee. He tried to get up and walk it off, but he ended up dropping to the ground again, prompting Schneider and head trainer Jose Ministral to check on him. But leaving the game was never an option for Clement.
“You’ve got to grind through it,” said Clement. “Vladdy needed to get off his feet a little bit, so I'm staying in the ballgame. They'd have to rip me off the field there. I take a little hockey player’s mentality there and just fight through it. Fight for your boys.”
Clement got the chance to do it for the boys again, picking up his second career walk-off hit.
The mentality was a version of all the things the Blue Jays have been preaching: There’s no need to panic, no point in trying to do too much. Clement trusted his strengths to give his team the win.
“I love it,” said Clement. “I’ve failed so many times in that situation that, you know, there's nothing to be afraid of there. Last night, I had a chance to tie the game, and it hurts not coming through for the boys. So I was thankful to get that opportunity again. It's nice to come through.”
It was particularly nice to come through for the pitching staff, a group that was such a strength for this team early on and which needed a good bounce at this point.
Just in time, the offense showed up to save the ‘pen from extra innings.
“That was big, man,” said Schneider. “You get a really hot team, obviously, and you're almost out of pitching. You kind of want it to happen right then and there, and it does. [It’s] kind of a big sigh of relief.”
Big picture, it may be an even deeper sigh of relief. Saturday’s win tied up the series against the Tigers -- who entered the game with the best record in the Majors -- and put them back within one win of the .500 mark (22-23). Plus, it reinforced the philosophy that has turned this clubhouse around.
“It gives everybody confidence,” said Clement. “ … We're going to continue to just scratch and claw and never give up.”