Vladdy Jr. roars again with huge clutch HR

TORONTO -- There’s a famous scene in Jurassic Park where the camera focuses in on two cups of water, beginning to ripple as a thunderous noise plods closer and closer.

Then you see it. The T. Rex is loose. It tears through an electrical fence, overturns a Jeep with a flick of its nose and eats a man whole. The distant roars and faraway threats of an unstoppable beast you’ve heard about for half a movie are finally real.

For three months, it has felt like Vladimir Guerrero Jr. would stay in those woods, rippling the waters but never unleashing that deafening roar. Thursday night, there it was.

Guerrero’s home run in the sixth inning was the only offense for Toronto in its 2-1 win over San Francisco at Rogers Centre, and it was worthy of taking the stage as its own. As Keaton Winn’s splitter spilled back into the middle of the plate, Guerrero uncoiled into a violent swing, finishing with that high follow-through and defiant stare that we haven’t seen often enough since his brilliant 2021 season.

“Sometimes when you’re trying to do a little too much, you forget how good you are,” said manager John Schneider. “Moments like that hopefully just let you take a deep breath and understand that he’s as talented as he is. When he’s confident in the box and taking pitches that he should, I’ve said it forever, he’s as dangerous as anybody.”

Vladdy wanted to watch, too.

Guerrero stood, both feet planted in the box with his bat pointed to left field as his towering home run climbed a mile into the sky before crashing into the bleachers. A full 10 seconds passed before he even touched first base. This felt like a trademark Guerrero moment, coming on a night his team desperately needed it and his starting pitcher deserved it.

“This feels great, especially when you go back to the dugout and you see all of your teammates happy for you,” Guerrero said through a club interpreter. “I knew in a moment like this, I looked back and saw all of my teammates looking at me. I know they were expecting something from me. I didn’t take it for granted. It was definitely a great moment going back to the dugout. Hopefully, moments like this continue.”

Doing this just hours after announcing that he would return to the T-Mobile Home Run Derby, where he hasn’t been since launching a record 91 home runs in 2019, only added to the moment.

An hour earlier, Guerrero was skipping out of the box and slamming his bat into the ground for different reasons after taking a pitch in the ribs. It’s his ability to stay mentally present and trust his own talent, though, that has sparked this recent streak.

“I try to stay calm and myself,” Guerrero said. “I talk to myself. I’m obviously trying to execute my plan, and until I execute my plan, I won’t be happy. I’m just trying to stay calm, and of course my confidence is high. I feel good at the plate, and hopefully it continues that way.”

Without Guerrero’s heroics, this game would have been another injustice against the Blue Jays’ rotation just two days after Kevin Gausman pitched a gem in a loss. Chris Bassitt was brilliant Thursday, setting a career high with 12 strikeouts over six shutout innings and emptying the tank on his 104th and final pitch.

Coming off a poor stretch of pitching that saw Bassitt hand primary pitch-calling duties back to his catcher, this was what Bassitt needed. He spoke after the win of the value of failure when it’s handled properly, which he has learned to do with age. This has been a long week of meetings and reflection, making a performance like this so much more satisfying.

“To be honest with you, I never have doubts about my team,” Guerrero said, “about my teammates or my coaches. Obviously, yes, things weren’t happening the way we wanted to, but we always stayed on the same page. We keep working hard and stay together. Now, hopefully things are going our way and happening the way we want it to.”

The fancy stats have suggested all season that Guerrero’s power numbers were already long overdue. The eye test still matters with Guerrero, though. That swing, that towering home run and that moment looked like the version of Guerrero that this team needs. It’s the version that, if he sticks around a while, changes the trajectory of a club that has been stuck near the middle.

If the T. Rex is finally loose, everything changes.