{"id":226200,"date":"2025-10-20T05:54:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T05:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/226200\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T05:54:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T05:54:07","slug":"barger-provides-swing-of-the-game-powers-blue-jays-offence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/226200\/","title":{"rendered":"Barger provides ‘swing of the game,’ powers Blue Jays’ offence"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 On the afternoon of the Toronto Blue Jays<\/a>\u2019 do-or-die Game 6 of the ALCS, Addison Barger<\/a> and a few of his teammates were trying to toss baseballs through open windows of the hotel rooms at Rogers Centre, located beyond the\u00a0outfield\u00a0wall, and way up high, surrounding the ballpark\u2019s massive LED screen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A few of those balls impressively made it to the screaming fans with outstretched arms, though one of Barger\u2019s throws clocked the screen when he tried to hit an open window on the top floor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A few hours later, Barger launched another ball over that homerun wall at a much faster clip \u2014 103.1 m.p.h. \u2014 and a heck of a lot further, 403 feet in all, when he got a hold of a Logan Gilbert slider. His two-run shot in the third inning gave the Blue Jays a 4-0 lead over the Seattle Mariners<\/a> en route to an eventual 6-2 victory that forced a decisive Game 7 on Monday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt awesome,\u201d a grinning Barger said of his second homerun of the ALCS, which saw the sold-out crowd here on its feet, part of what was an electric atmosphere all night long. \u201cObviously that\u2019s a moment you dream about as a kid and everything.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, Gilbert, he\u2019s disgusting \u2014 he has a great arm,\u201d Barger added. \u201cI think it was just he left that slider a little too middle and got extended on it. And that was it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

That sure was it. And to John Schneider, it was also \u201ckind of the swing of the game,\u201d as the Blue Jays\u2019\u00a0manager put it.\u00a0\u201cBut Addy has been exactly what we\u2019ve needed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Sunday, it was the 25-year-old Barger who kick-started Toronto\u2019s offence in the second inning with an RBI single, part of a 2-3, 3-RBI performance that also saw the right fielder draw a walk.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been all year for him,\u201d said Ernie Clement, who was especially thankful for Barger\u2019s two-out home run swing, since Clement had just hit a triple that nearly cleared the wall, and he was crossing his fingers that they\u2019d get another hit to cash him. \u201cAll year he\u2019s been an impact player for us and had a lot of big hits and made a lot of really nice plays in the field. So it’s been all around for him \u2014 he\u2019s been awesome.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Barger, who hit seventh in the lineup on Sunday, has been versatile since he was called up in mid-April, playing both right field and third base. After starting the post-season at third, that versatility has been especially key since Anthony Santander was removed from the ALCS roster due to back tightness, and so Barger has found himself in the outfield for the first time in nearly a month.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor someone to come in \u2014 going back to when Tony got hurt, he kind of stepped in and filled that role of power and production,\u201d Schneider said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Barger has also made a pretty significant change at the plate in the last week or so. During this series, which has seen him record hits in four straight games, he moved his hands up on his bat, \u201cwhich is not easy to do,\u201d Schneider said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he\u2019s got a great way about him. To not be afraid to make a mechanical change in Game 4 of the ALCS, when it\u2019s your first full year in the big leagues, speaks volumes\u00a0to his confidence, the confidence that our hitting coaches have in him, and how talented he is.\u201d<\/p>\n

To play a big role in powering the offence in Game 6, Barger said, \u201cfeels awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously the goal is to help the team win every day,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s the playoffs, so we got to win. So any way it comes, we\u2019re pretty happy about it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Barger powered that slider over the wall on Sunday, he started gunning his way around the bases, slowing only when he was sure it was a\u00a0homer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hustle \u2014 we run hard,\u201d Barger said. \u201cI think it\u2019s just a testament to the group of guys we have. We bust it down the line every time. We\u2019re never really taking it easy. That\u2019s just kind of the core of guys we have.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

This core is now just one win away from the World Series, and it\u2019s back at Rogers Centre Monday night. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a do-or-die game,\u201d Barger said. \u201cIt’s win or go home, so we understand that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 On the afternoon of the Toronto Blue Jays\u2019 do-or-die Game 6 of the ALCS, Addison Barger…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-226200","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226200","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=226200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}