The Summer of George has made its way to Canadian soil.
When George Springer signed a six-year 150 million-dollar deal with the Blue Jays this past offseason, he expected to play in Toronto, he just wasn't sure when that would be. In Saturday's 4-0 win, Springer sure looked right at home.
In the bottom of the first, Springer deposited a first-pitch fastball from Kansas City Royals starter Mike Minor into the second deck for a solo home run.
He muttered "Stay fair, stay fair" as the ball sailed inside the left field foul pole for his 10th homer of the season and 40th career leadoff jack. But he wasn't done yet.
In the third inning, Springer went deep to right field for a two-run bomb—his 11th longball of the year and second in as many at-bats. Turns out, Springer enjoyed hitting at Rogers Centre long before donning a Blue Jays uniform. Prior to Saturday, the 31-year-old was batting .386/.471/.649 in 16 games at The Dome.
Springer's bat provided three of four Blue Jays runs, but an excellent starting pitching performance kept the game in check.
When the Blue Jays charter touched down late Friday morning and the team rolled into Toronto, Alek Manoah was excited. In fact, he was so excited that he and fellow rookie Tayler Saucedo raced down from their hotel rooms at 4 a.m. to goof around on the Rogers Centre turf.
Yet, Manoah was calm and collected as he took the ball for his first start in front of the home crowd. When he blew an elevated fastball past Royals catcher Salvador Perez for his first punchout of the game, it was no big deal. Manoah took the throw back from Alejandro Kirk, rubbed up the ball and zoned back in.
The 23-year-old didn't get a ton of swings-and-misses and his velocity was down a touch, but he still rolled through seven innings, allowing only two hits, walking one and striking out four.
For Manoah, a debut at Rogers Centre was undoubtedly a big milestone, but this was also his first start since July 19, when a slip-and-fall on the dugout steps sent him to the injured list. Manoah's workload was being closely monitored—Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo confirmed that before the game—but Saturday's performance gave his manager nothing to worry about.
The Blue Jays have an uphill battle towards AL East supremacy. Yet with back-to-back stellar outings to begin the newest chapter at Rogers Centre and a revamped starting rotation to boot, things are looking up for the boys in blue.
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