TORONTO -- Star power can only be replaced with star power and star moments.
The Blue Jays had both Tuesday, turning a dark day jubilant with a 4-3 walk-off win over the Astros hours after Bo Bichette landed on the IL with a left knee sprain. In an instant, a night that could have spiralled in a completely different direction became one of the biggest, most emotional wins of the season as Toronto climbed to a three-game lead over New York in the American League East.
Tyler Heineman was the walk-off hero, rolling a ground ball in just the right direction in the bottom of the 10th, but a big hit from Isiah Kiner-Falefa and two incredible, unheralded moments from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. -- including a leadoff single in the 10th that advanced automatic runner Myles Straw to third -- set the stage for it all. Good teams have stars, but the truly great teams get these moments of greatness from “the other guys” too.
“I need a beer,” manager John Schneider said after the win, and he’s not the only one.
After Kiner-Falefa’s two-run single tied things up in the ninth, reigniting a Rogers Centre crowd that had sat through a dud with the Blue Jays getting no-hit into the sixth inning, Guerrero made the play of the game with his glove in the 10th to keep the momentum on Toronto’s side. There’s a reason that star players can’t just be replaced by everyone else on the roster playing 10 percent better, because certain players have their own gravitational pull. That’s what Bichette has done for the past two months, and it’s what Guerrero did Tuesday night, pulling the game right back to the Blue Jays.
With the automatic runner already standing on second, Guerrero fielded a sharp grounder at first base, and instead of stepping on the bag for the easy out, he fired across the diamond to third to get the lead runner. Home runs are fun, but Guerrero and the Blue Jays hit plenty of those. This was a rare, bold play, one of the best you’ll see on the Blue Jays’ infield all season.
Schneider doesn’t just think Guerrero is the only MLB first baseman who makes that play … he thinks he’s the only one who would even attempt it.
“I’m glad there wasn’t a microphone in the dugout,” Schneider said. “In extras, you’re kind of assuming the first run is going to score, right? Especially with the visiting team and all of that stuff. Outs are precious. It was the … ‘No, no, no … nice.’ I think you need some of those plays in extra innings.”
Standing a few feet to Guerrero’s right was Kiner-Falefa at second base. Even Kiner-Falefa was urging Guerrero to go to first base because “the footwork didn’t really look normal,” but after the win, he just smiled and shook his head. In his year abroad with the Pittsburgh Pirates, to whom the Blue Jays traded him last July, Kiner-Falefa had forgotten about Vladdy’s arm.
“That play changed the whole outcome of the game. That’s what it takes to win the World Series,” Kiner-Falefa said.
This is where the other side of Tuesday’s win -- and replacing Bichette -- comes in. Kiner-Falefa is quick to note that he and Heineman didn’t even start Tuesday’s game. No one will ever confuse Kiner-Falefa or Ernie Clement with Bichette, but they’ll be the ones tasked with replacing one of the hottest hitters in baseball. There will be days that Vladdy needs to pick up this team and carry it, but sometimes, even he needs some help.
Ten days ago, Kiner-Falefa was grinding away on a Pittsburgh team headed nowhere, but after being waived and picked up by Toronto, he feels like he has a second life. Following the win, he spoke eloquently and at length about his appreciation for the Blue Jays, an organization he calls “his biggest believer” after they brought him “home” to finish the two-year contract he signed here a year ago.
“Walking up to the plate, I had a feeling that everything that happened last year and everything that happened this year is meant to be,” Kiner-Falefa said. “To come through in that spot, it was just surreal. I kind of visualized it walking up to the plate. I was like, ‘I went to Pittsburgh for this hit right here.’ It all came full circle.”
That’s how it works in Toronto now, so different from the team ‘IKF’ knew a year ago. There’s some magic to this team.
Replacing Bichette won’t be easy. Some days, it will be impossible, but the Blue Jays just keep finding new ways to surprise us, which is a fine place to start.