TORONTO – The Toronto Blue Jays may have star power, but they’ve had contributions from unsung heroes this season.

That happened Saturday afternoon when Toronto’s 7-8-9 hitters accounted for all six runs and went a collective 5-for-10 in the team’s 6-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants at Rogers Centre.

Second baseman Ernie Clement finished with an RBI. Third baseman Will Wagner hit a two-run double. And catcher Tyler Heineman had one of the best games of his career, hitting a two-run homer in the sixth inning to finish 2-for-3 with three RBI.

Blue Jays manager John Schneider credits his club’s hitting coaches for this lower-lineup success.

“It starts with Pop, and Lou and Hunter,” said Schneider of Toronto’s hitting staff.

“And really diving into what these guys are good at and how they are going to get pitched and having a plan. And then it’s the guys buying into that plan and sticking with it. It’s not easy to do when you don’t play every day and you’re hitting 7-8-9.

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“The tendency is to chase results and the guys aren’t doing that.”

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The Blue Jays got contributions from more than their batting depth Saturday.

Starter Eric Lauer picked up his fifth win of the season while allowing two runs and no walks in six innings of work. Lauer also struck out seven batters.

Signed to a minor-league deal Dec. 13, 2024, after he was cut by the KBO’s Kia Tigers, Lauer has been a strong addition to the Blue Jays’ rotation in 2025.

The left-hander has a 2.80 earned-run average and a 1.04 walks plus hits per inning pitched in eight starts for the Blue Jays this season.

“One, probably,” said Clement of where Lauer would rank among Toronto’s unsung heroes.

“What he’s been able to do and come in and just give us a chance to win every game. It’s invaluable. So, tip of the cap to him. He’s probably been our unsung MVP so far.”

Schneider says Lauer’s demeanour hasn’t changed as his quality starts increased.

“That’s one of the things I love about him,” Scheider said of Lauer post-game.

“He’s kind of a flat-liner…Not getting too high or too low, and kind of doing what everyone’s doing, where you go out and do what we ask of you and you move on to the next time you go out there.”

Accustomed to a long relief role as well as a starter this season, Lauer believes the latter is where has earned the right to be.

“I’m just trying to make sure that I stick in the rotation, honestly” Lauer said. “That’s what I want to do, and that’s where I think I can help the team best.”

With Bowden Francis still on the injured list with a shoulder impingement, the Blue Jays need Lauer in the rotation moving forward.

Toronto will attempt to sweep the three-game homestand against the Giants on Sunday before hosting the New York Yankees in a three-game set starting Monday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 19, 2025.

&copy 2025 The Canadian Press

There will be a couple of familiar faces in the grid’s front row when the green flag drops at the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto on Sunday.

Defending champion Colton Herta earned pole position in the only IndyCar Series race outside of the United States. Alex Palou, who has a comfortable lead atop the open-wheel circuit’s points list, will be right beside Herta at the starting line at Exhibition Place.

Herta held pole position in three of the past four races in Toronto, but only won in 2024.

“I think it’s just what this team is capable of around here for the street courses,” said Herta on Andretti Global’s reputation for strong showings on street courses like Toronto. “We continue to be a dominant force in the league for that style of racing.

“It was a stressful one, though. Really close to being knocked out in the first round.”

Herta clocked the 11-turn, 2.874-kilometre course around Toronto’s fairgrounds — also home to the CFL’s Argonauts, Major League Soccer’s Toronto FC, the American Hockey League’s Marlies, the Professional Women’s Hockey League’s Sceptres, and starting in 2026, the WNBA’s Tempo — in 59.8320 seconds.

It was Herta’s first pole of the season and he’s winless so far, although he does have three top-five finishes.

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“We want to do well. We’re striving to do better every weekend,” said Herta as his news conference wound down and Palou walked in to the media centre to do his. “It’s a tough sport, so any little thing that we drop the ball on, it creates a big impact.

“Just need to be heads-up on Sunday and not give this (expletive) a win.”

Palou chuckled before getting to the microphone.

He has dominated IndyCar this season with seven wins, four poles, 10 top fives and 11 top 10s, leading for a total of 442 laps. He has 515 points to put him well ahead of No. 2 Pato O’Ward’s 386.

Despite the quality of his season, Palou said that starting second would be a tough assignment Sunday.

“It’s never easy to start second,” said Palou, whose best qualifying lap was 0.2758 seconds behind Herta’s. “If the person in third is awake, they’re usually able to pass the person on the outside.

“We’ll see what we can do. It’s not easy to be around the outside in Turn 1. Honestly, it’s still great. As long as we’re in the top four or five by Lap 1, it’s where we want to be. We can race from there.”

Marcus Armstrong and Will Power were third and fourth, respectively.

Scott Dixon, a four-time champion in Toronto, was 11th in qualifying but IndyCar announced Friday that he’d earned a six-position starting grid penalty for an unapproved engine change following last week’s race at Iowa Speedway.

Dixon is second only to all-time great Michael Andretti’s seven wins around Exhibition Place.

Toronto’s Devlin DeFrancesco, the only Canadian on the grid, was 26th.

Several drivers complained after Friday’s practice about a large bump on Lake Shore Boulevard, just before the braking zone heading into Turn 3. Race officials repaved the area overnight with mixed reviews from Herta and Palou.

“It’s much better. Yeah, it was pretty brutal yesterday,” said Herta. “I didn’t really mind it because I think it adds character and whatnot. But it was on the limit. It was very aggressive.

“I thought IndyCar did a good job. I think there’s no problems at all with it.”

Palou was less positive.

“(The patch) didn’t really make any difference for us. I guess they tried hard,” he said. “The good thing is we brake past that, so it’s just uncomfortable when you drive through there.

“But it was not any smoother. You were still hitting very, very hard.”

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