Guerrero nears Blue Jays history with three-hit game

ST. PETERSBURG -- Blue Jays starter Yariel Rodríguez fielded a question with no good answer right now: How would you approach pitching to Vladimir Guerrero Jr.?

“Oh, that’s hard,” Rodríguez said via team interpreter Hector LeBron.

It’s been nearly impossible to pitch to Guerrero over the past couple of months, and he once again showed why in the club’s 3-2 loss to the Rays at Tropicana Field on Saturday.

Guerrero picked up three hits on the afternoon, giving him a career-high 191 for the season and bringing him even closer to some ground that few in franchise history have tread. With seven games remaining, Guerrero has a chance at 200 hits, a feat achieved by only five Blue Jays players before him: Vernon Wells (215 in 2003), Tony Fernandez (213 in 1986), Paul Molitor (211 in 1993), Shannon Stewart (202 in 2001) and John Olerud (200 in 1993).

There is no doubt that Vladdy’s manager and teammates have 200 on their minds.

“It’d be cool if he gets 200,” John Schneider said. “That's kind of a badge of honor, if you will, as a hitter over the course of the season. It means you're durable and you're good. It's cool to watch him right now. He's pretty locked in.”

Catcher Alejandro Kirk echoed those thoughts.

“Oh, yeah,” Kirk said. “We’re all excited about it.”

Guerrero’s 20th three-hit game of the season -- which tied him with the Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr. for the most in the Majors -- opened with a single in the first inning, as he flicked a splitter from Rays starter Taj Bradley into right-center. Then came a line-drive single on a curveball on the outside corner in the third inning. In the fifth, Bradley left a cutter in the middle of the plate, and Guerrero drove it into right.

Three pitch types. Three different locations. Three hits. Honestly, how do you pitch to this guy right now?

“He always has a good plan, so I'm trying to stay away from him,” Rodríguez said. “I mean, I’d rather walk him than for him to hit a homer off me.”

A 200-hit season may have seemed unlikely for Vlad by the time we arrived at the All-Star break. But since then, he leads MLB with 83 hits and a .386 average in 56 games. Entering Saturday, he had logged a batting average of .300 or better against seven different pitch types since the break. He attained 30 homers with a two-dinger performance on Thursday and is one RBI shy of driving in 100 runs for the second time in his career.

Wells is the only Blue Jays player to notch 30 homers, 100 RBIs and 200 hits in a single season.

“Very impressive,” Rodríguez said. “Seeing him here live, in person, it’s unbelievable. He’s a great athlete. He's a great human being and in the clubhouse, especially, with me, he’s been great.”

Guerrero supplied one-third of Toronto’s hit total against Tampa Bay, but perhaps no hit was as memorable as Kirk’s RBI triple -- yes, a triple -- in the seventh inning.

Kirk got a little help from Rays right fielder Josh Lowe, who seemed to momentarily lose sight of the liner. The ball skipped under his glove and to the wall, allowing Kirk to record his first triple in 428 career games.

“We were laughing, especially when he was turning from second to third,” Rodríguez said. “We were rooting for him.”

Up to that point, Kirk was the Majors’ active leader in most games without a three-bagger. Now he’s got one as well as the ball to go with it.

“It was an exciting moment,” Kirk said. “You don't see that very often, so you’ve got to laugh.”

Schneider jokingly thought that monumental first should be worth more than a hearty chuckle.

“I feel like if Kirky gets a triple, you should win the game automatically,” Schneider said. “It should be a new rule for MLB to listen to.”