TORONTO — For the primary time in 48 days, Bo Bichette was within the Blue Jays lineup on Friday.
And for the primary time in 2,382 days, he was enjoying second base.
In Sport 1 of the World Collection, no much less.
However Bichette delivered on either side of the ball, going 1-for-2 with a stroll and making a robust play that saved a run within the third inning because the Blue Jays beat the Dodgers 11-4 at Rogers Centre.
“I simply tried to sluggish the sport down and deal with it like every other recreation,” Bichette mentioned. “Simply fall in line and have good at-bats, similar to everybody else is having.”
Bichette had been sidelined since Sept. 6 with a left knee sprain that he suffered in a collision at dwelling plate with Yankees catcher Austin Wells.
The shortstop was nonetheless too restricted bodily to make the Blue Jays roster for the ALDS or ALCS, however he was lastly cleared for the World Collection roster — even when he’s nonetheless not totally recovered.
In the course of the rehab course of, Bichette got here to the Blue Jays with the concept of enjoying second base — he performed 30 video games there within the minors, none since 2019 — as a result of he might prepare faster there.
The Blue Jays have been OK with it as a method to get Bichette’s bat into the lineup — batting cleanup behind Vladimir Guerrero Jr. — coming off a season through which he hit .311 with a .840 OPS, whereas retaining Andrés Giménez (who gives extra defensively) at shortstop.
However then he saved the Blue Jays defensively within the third inning.
The Dodgers already led 2-0 and had a runner on second when Teoscar Hernández hit a floor ball up the center.
Bichette ranged onto the opposite facet of second base, backhanded the ball after which turned to get off a robust sufficient throw to nail Hernández for the second out of the inning.
“Simply let the athleticism take over,” mentioned Bichette, who was hobbling after the play however stayed in till being pinch run for by Isiah Kiner-Falefa within the sixth inning.
When Shohei Ohtani got here as much as bat within the ninth inning, the group serenaded him with chants of “We don’t want you!” Ohtani snubbed the Blue Jays in free company two years in the past to signal with the Dodgers.
“Don’t poke the bear,” right-hander Chris Bassitt mentioned.
Ohtani went 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, a stroll and two strikeouts.
The Dodgers stored Alex Vesia off their roster after asserting Thursday that the reliever stepped away from the group “to navigate a deeply private household matter.” They might have stored him in play to pitch later within the sequence by inserting him on the household medical emergency listing (which requires being out no less than three days), however opted to not.
“We simply didn’t need to have any potential for any form of stress,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman mentioned. “That is a lot larger than baseball. For us, it was doing no matter small half we might to simply 100% be supportive.”
In mild of the NBA’s playing scandal, MLBPA government director Tony Clark mentioned he continued to be involved about “the security and well-being of our gamers.”
“We’ve labored intently with the league to make sure the security and well-being of our gamers,” Clark mentioned Friday. “That is still entrance and heart. That, together with the educating of our gamers, ensuring they perceive what they’ll and may’t do, is constant and fixed. However relaxation assured, each time there’s a scenario that arises associated to playing, the priority doesn’t reduce, it will get worse.”
Cito Gaston, the Blue Jays supervisor for his or her solely two World Collection titles, in 1992 and 1993, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Joe Carter, whose walk-off three-run homer ended the 1993 World Collection, will throw out the primary pitch earlier than Sport 2.
