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MLB Rankings: Baseball’s Greatest Hits of Week-19

By Bill Felber

LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 04: Max Muncy #13 of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the dugout before playing the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium on August 4, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 04: Max Muncy #13 of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the dugout before playing the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium on August 4, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Cole Burston/Getty Images)
(Photo by Cole Burston/Getty Images) /

MLB Rankings: Greatest Hits in Week-19

8. Vlad Guerrero Jr., 38 percent

The Toronto Blue Jays aren’t ready yet to contend in the AL East. But you have to love a team bursting with prospects of the stripe of Vlad Guerrero, Bo Bichette, Teoscar Hernandez and Cavan Biggio.

Facing the division-leading New York Yankees Saturday in Toronto, it was Vlad Guerrero’s turn to stand out.

The Yankees carried a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning and appeared ready to win their third straight in the four-game series. Adam Ottavino, the fifth Yankee pitcher in a “bullpen game” took the mound to protect that slim advantage, retiring the first Blue Jay hitter, Danny Jansen, on a ground out.

Then the Jays youngsters intervened. Bichette started it by drawing a base on balls on a 3-2 pitch. Biggio followed by lining a single to right, and suddenly Guerrero came to the plate with the tying and go-ahead runs on base.

Guerrero’s performance is only beginning to catch up with his reputation, but following a slow start, he has raised his batting average to .274 with 13 home runs and a .807 OPS. Ottavino quickly got ahead on an 0-2 count, then tried to slip a high fastball past Guerrero on the outside corner. The Jays slugger got enough of the pitch to shoot it down the right-field line at Rogers Centre, scoring Bichette and Biggio with the tying and lead runs and barely beating the relay to third base for the first triple of his career.

With Jason Adam and Derek Law protecting that lead through the final six outs, Guerrero’s hit emerged as the decisive one in Toronto’s 5-4 win.

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