{"id":133005,"date":"2025-09-10T05:24:05","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T05:24:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/133005\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T05:24:05","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T05:24:05","slug":"blue-jays-cap-challenging-day-with-dramatic-walk-off-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/133005\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jays cap challenging day with dramatic walk-off win"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 To fully appreciate what Shane Bieber<\/a> is doing 17 months after Tommy John surgery, consider the plight of Luis Garcia, the starter opposite him Tuesday night. The Houston Astros righty needed 28 months to recover from his elbow reconstruction in May 2023 and on the 27th pitch of his second outing since coming back, he threw an 88 m.p.h. ball to Ernie Clement, signalled that something was wrong and quickly exited the field. The club said he left due to elbow discomfort, underlining how delicate these returns can be.<\/p>\n

That’s why, when a couple of days before his fourth big-league start post-surgery, Bieber said that he’s “really happy with how everything’s going,” and that “I’m bouncing back really well,” it bodes well for the 30-year-old, since such returns to play aren’t always linear. And with the Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> right-hander “in my own kind of spring training while in the big leagues right now, albeit with a new elbow,” his outings, including the 5.2 innings of three-run ball Tuesday, should to some degree be viewed through that prism.<\/p>\n

More often than not such a performance should be good enough for a Blue Jays win and in dramatic fashion, it was this time, as Isiah Kiner-Falefa tied the game with a two-run single in the ninth, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.<\/a> made a bold throw across the infield for a crucial out in the top of the 10th\u00a0before Tyler Heineman<\/a>\u2019s fielder\u2019s choice won it 4-3 in the bottom half.<\/p>\n

The comeback victory before a crowd of 40,252 came hours after star shortstop Bo Bichette was placed on the injured list with a left knee sprain suffered sliding into New York Yankees catcher Austin Wells on Saturday, and after a quiet start for the offence.<\/p>\n

By the time all was said and done, the Blue Jays\u2019 eighth walk-off win, combined with the Detroit Tigers\u2019 12-2 thumping of the Yankees,\u00a0pushed their lead atop the AL East back to three games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need a beer,\u201d quipped manager John Schneider.\u00a0\u201cIt was kind of everyone doing exactly what we are asking for and then Heinie making contact. Weird day. Long day. Ended really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between the news on Bichette \u2014 there\u2019s no timeline for his return and he\u2019ll be off his feet this week<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 Carlos Correa\u2019s two-run homer in the first and some strong Houston pitching, it didn\u2019t start that way.<\/p>\n

Garcia didn\u2019t allow a hit while recording five outs and A.J. Blubaugh followed with 3.1 no-hit frames. George Springer greeted Enyel De Los Santos by opening the sixth with his 28th\u00a0homer of the season, and after lefties Steven Okert and Bryan King combined to strand Addison Barger<\/a>\u2019s leadoff double in the seventh, the Blue Jays erased a 3-1 deficit in the ninth against Bryan Abreu.<\/p>\n

Kiner-Falefa, back with the Blue Jays after being claimed on waivers from the Pirates on Aug. 31 in what\u2019s turned out to be a prescient move, came up with the bases loaded and lined a single to left. With runners on second and third, Abreu rallied to strike out Springer before Myles Straw<\/a> flew out to force extras.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me to come through in that spot, it was just surreal,\u201d said Kiner-Falefa. \u201cI kind of visualized it walking up to the plate, I’m like, I went to Pittsburgh for this hit right here. It all came full circle. I was just thankful for that opportunity first game back (in Toronto).\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Closer Jeff Hoffman\u2019s zero in the top of the 10th\u00a0was helped along by Guerrero fielding Victor Caratini\u2019s chopper at first and making an 85.4 m.p.h. throw to get Jose Altuve at third for the inning\u2019s first out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“That play changed the whole outcome of the game,” said Kiner-Falefa.<\/p>\n

Guerrero\u2019s infield single to start the bottom half put men on the corners and after Daulton Varsho<\/a> struck out, Heineman\u2019s grounder to first brought Straw home with the winning run.<\/p>\n

“That was awesome,” said Bieber.<\/p>\n

With three more starts before the regular season ends, Bieber can play a big role in helping push the Blue Jays across the finish line, especially if he can keep making gains on his current form.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 2020 AL Cy Young Award winner said he\u2019s trying “not to compare” where he\u2019s at right now to where he\u2019s been in the past, instead “focusing on how I feel right now.”<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I’m close,\u201d he continued. \u201cHow close? I’m not sure. But I’m encouraged with how it’s all coming along and I’ll continue to work towards getting better each and every day. So it’s hard to say if I’m 75, 80, 90 per cent of the way there, but all things considered, I’m happy with where everything’s at and planning to continue to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

One area in which he said \u201cthere’s definitely room for improvement\u201d is with his location and command, \u201csomething that I’ve always prided myself on being able to do and what I expected to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s part of the bullpen and rehab progression, things that I was working on since March,\u201d he continued. \u201cLocating my fastball as well as going through that progression of building volume. There’s been a lot of work that’s been put in since, really, the day I got surgery. So I’m happy with where things are at. I’m not really surprised, but definitely a lot of room to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 To fully appreciate what Shane Bieber is doing 17 months after Tommy John surgery, consider the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-133005","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}