In a night in which Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the star of the Toronto Blue Jays, hit three home runs against Yankees’ pitching, the Bombers had no choice but to recognize the enormous talent he has and how he, alone, changed the fate of last night’s game.
The Blue Jays star went 4-for-4 with three homers (two against Yankees’ ace Gerrit Cole) and a double, with three runs scored and four RBI. He was too much to handle for the Bombers, a bad omen considering the two teams play in the same division.
“Did you see the night?” Cole told MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch, as he discussed how he doffed his headgear after the double. “If you had a cap, you’d tip it too. I mean, it got better after that, too. My goodness.”
In total, Vlad Jr. accumulated 14 total bases just last night. Hundreds of players can’t even reach that total over their lifetime.
“Just otherworldly hitting,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Pretty impressive display by him. We got beat by a great hitter tonight.”
Guerrero singlehandedly beat the Yankees
The first home run was quite controversial, as the ball bounced near the top of the fence to ricochet onto the playing field.
“I still don’t feel like it went out,” Hicks said. “I caught it and it slipped out, but even looking back at the video, I feel like it hit the top of the wall and came back in.”
That doesn’t take anything away from Guerrero, who punished the Yankees with more than 1,000 feet worth of batted ball distance. It was a truly impressive display.
“I wish it was against somebody else; I could watch it on TV and not see it live,” Aaron Judge said. “That’s the type of player he is. He can take over a game. The guy is a game-changer, and he’s going to be a tough opponent all year.”