Big-hit Bo Bichette enjoys the moment, lifts the Blue Jays past the Yankees

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This article was published 29/09/2021 (1495 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Bo Bichette had said, before the game, that his team was simply not in awe of the Yankees, not this version nor their magisterial history.

“They’re just another team trying to accomplish what we’re trying to accomplish. I don’t look at them as a higher standard than us.”

Bichette had said, before the game, that Yankees pitching ace Gerrit Cole didn’t strike fear in the heart of Toronto’s hitters.

“Nah, nobody does. We’re not scared of anybody.” he said, with a Cy Young bullet added to the boast.

Cole or Robbie Ray? “Oh, Robbie Ray.”

Cole gave up nine hits to the Blue Jays on a heart-thumping night at the Rogers Centre, including a 410-foot jack in the third inning to Bichette.

Reliever Clay Holmes served up a sinker cookie to Bichette, for his second bomb of the evening — the solo shot heard around Jays Nation, giving Toronto a 6-5 lead in the eighth that Jordan Romano secured with his 22nd save.

What had been deflated on Tuesday was reinflated on Wednesday. The Jays aren’t quite trembling on the brink of wild-card exclusion, eyeballing Boston and Seattle for the second wild-card spot and closing the gap to two games back of New York for the first wild-card spot.

All of it is still a tossed salad of course. But Bichette, with his two cranks out of the park and a brace of doubles, had his fingerprint whorl and clutch dramatics all over this desperation win. And that’s saying plenty, given the formidable six innings on the mound from José Berríos, a record-extending four-bagger from Marcus Semien, and some vintage spectacular catches at the wall by a resprung George Springer.

It was a massive, massive, massive whack from Bichette, though, when it seemed the game had tipped into a trough, Toronto squandering a 4-0 lead, then a 5-3 lead, New York inching and threatening and finally levelling off Tim Mayza in the seventh.

Not tonight, folks. Not a top-to-bottom Jays watch, utterly determined not to flag and sag, even when they must have been gutted by the visitors’ comeback.

“Just excited,” offered Bichette, post-game, of his ultimately game-winning cracker above the left-field wall. He didn’t sound that excited, though. Which he explained thusly: “I still really haven’t calmed down yet. Just a lot of excitement, big spot, I got the job done. So, it felt good.”

His first home-run blast made it a Blue Jays record for shortstops at 27, and was his 100th RBI, which gave the Jays four hitters who’ve reached the century mark this season: “It’s a special group, on both sides of the ball … A really incredible group to be around all year. They make it fun to come on the field. Obviously great players.”

Such a high-stakes game, though. And nobody elevated those stakes, those good feels, higher than Bichette.

“Every game from here on out is going to be bigger than the next. We’ve got to come out tomorrow and do it again. But we came out ready to go.”

Uh-huh. Two runs on the board in the first frame, including Marcus Semien’s major-league-record 44th home run for a second baseman. Four-zip by the third and Berríos dealing, not allowing a hit until the fifth.

But, come on Bo, let’s revisit that dinger, leading off the eighth.

“Yeah, I was trying to hit a home run there,” he granted. “Yeah, so. Lucky I got it.”

When he got to the dugout, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. shoved him back out for a curtain call, Bichette doffing his cap to the delighted crowd.

“I honestly don’t really know if I got one,” claimed Bichette, of the take-a-bow ovation. “But Vladdy pushed me out to the top so I just assumed that’s what it meant. If that’s what they wanted, it’s definitely a special moment for me.”

A few hours earlier, Bichette had sat in that dugout and spoke, somewhat reluctantly, about an older brother, Dante Bichette Jr., who was once upon a time considered the shinier prize of the two siblings — drafted in the first round by the Yankees, with Bo drafted five years later in the second round by the Jays.

Dante the Younger kicked around the minors for nine years and never played a single game in the majors. He was released by the Nationals in May, 2020, and is now seeking to find his career as a musician in California. (The No. 1 pick in Dante’s cohort draft year, by the way, was a UCLA pitcher by the name of Gerrit Cole.)

The facts cut deep: Here is Bo, soaring, however the penny drops. And there is Dante, riding the buses for 943 games with teams like the St. Paul Saints and the High Point Rockers, a baseball dream that died hard.

“Obviously it’s not easy to deal with, especially him being the older brother. But for me, I think we’ve always been very supportive of each other. He’s always been my biggest fan and I was always his biggest fan. But if we just keep loving each other …

“The most important thing for me was watching him go through the struggles. I was able to see it firsthand, see that baseball in the minor leagues wasn’t all glamour.” Glamour? The minors? Well, pretty glittery for Bo anyway, and his steadfast upward trajectory.

“There was a lot of stress, a lot of pressure,’’ says Bo of his big bro. “To be able to see him go through struggles and to see him handle it really well, never treated anybody poorly because of what he was going through, never brought it on me, always wanted to help me with what he’s gone through.

“I think that’s probably the biggest thing, that I was able to learn from his struggles, fortunately or unfortunately, whatever. But I think that was the biggest advantage for me.’’

All the baseball blessings have aligned with Bo’s stars. And here he is now, experiencing the exquisite crunch of a post-season thrust for the first time because last year’s jerrymandered pandemic campaign really doesn’t count.

“This is a lot different. (Tuesday) was probably the first time I’ve had nerves in the first inning in my entire career,” Bichette admitted.

He never let them see him sweat, though.

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Bichette insisted, before the game, that the Jays were “optimistic.”

“We got out and win the next two games, put ourselves in good position. We’re excited with how we’ve played down the stretch. We were not in the position to be in this position at all a month ago. We definitely realize what we’ve accomplished.”

And just look at what he accomplished, on this memorable night, with his mates. Pressure? What pressure?

“Just embracing it. This is what we dream of doing. I wouldn’t be playing baseball if it wasn’t for moments like that.”

Rosie DiManno is a Toronto-based columnist covering sports and current affairs for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @rdimanno