George Springer on Monday night hit a three-run home run to key a five-run fifth inning as the Toronto Blue Jays beat Boston 7-3 victory in the late game, but it was the Red Sox’s Danny Jansen who made history in the early game.
Former Blue Jays and current Red Sox catcher Jansen did not just play for both teams in the same game — a first in Major League Baseball history — he played for both in the same inning.
In a statistical oddity made possible by two of the quirkiest entities on Earth — the baseball rule book and the New England weather — Jansen became the only player ever to appear on both sides of a baseball box score when he took the field for Boston in the resumption of a rain-delayed game he started for Toronto in June, before he was traded to the Red Sox.
Photo: AFP
“I was surprised when I found out I was the first one to do it,” Jansen said after going one for four for Boston — plus part of another at-bat for Toronto — in the Blue Jays’ 4-1 victory.
“It’s cool, leaving a stamp like that on the game. It’s interesting, and it’s strange, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to have that,” he said.
Playing for Toronto on June 26, Jansen fouled off the only pitch he saw from Boston starter Kutter Crawford in the second inning before the tarps were called out. On July 27, Jansen was traded from Toronto to Boston for three minor leaguers.
After the possibility of Jansen becoming a baseball first became a cause celebre around the sport, Red Sox manager Alex Cora last week said he would play Jansen when the suspended game resumed, saying: “Let’s make history.”
“It was a very cool moment, just to be part of it,” Cora said. “I don’t know if it’s going to happen again. It has to be kind of like the perfect storm for that to happen — starting with the storm, and I’m glad that everybody enjoyed it.”
Jansen’s wife, kids and some friends were there to see him claim his place in baseball’s record books — or in the footnotes, at least. When they arrived, they saw his picture on the scoreboard wearing a Blue Jays cap.
“When I walked out there today, yeah, I saw myself up there, for sure,” Jansen said. “That was just kind of like: ‘Well, that’s where we’re at.’”
The 29-year-old right-handed hitter said he wore two jerseys in the game (three, if counting the Toronto one he wore in June).
He said he would keep one for himself and send one to the Baseball Hall of Fame; an authenticator was on hand to tag all of Jansen’s equipment.
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Dansby Swanson hit a grand slam to cap an eight-run sixth inning, as the Chicago Cubs grabbed eight stolen bases — their most in a game in more than 100 years — on the way to an 18-8 victory over the Pirates.
The Cubs last had eight steals in 1913.
Rookie center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong led the way with three steals as the Cubs won for the seventh time in 10 games, while Ian Happ added two, and Nico Hoerner, Cody Bellinger and Seiya Suzuki had one each.
Elsewhere, the Kansas City Royals pipped the Cleveland Guardians 4-3 in their early game before beating them 9-4 in the late game, while the New York Yankees outplayed the Washington Nationals 5-2, the Philadelphia Phillies survived the Houston Astros 3-2 in 10 innings and the Atlanta Braves dominated the Minnesota Twins 10-6.
The San Diego Padres overpowered the St Louis Cardinals 7-4, the Detroit Tigers defeated the Chicago White Sox 6-3, the Colorado Rockies beat the Miami Marlins 3-2 and the Seattle Mariners took down the Tampa Bay Rays 5-1.
Additional reporting by staff writer, with Reuters
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