Blue Jays will be without Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for tonight's big game

The Toronto Blue Jays will be forced to try and win their fifth straight without Vladimir Guerrero Jr. tonight.

Less than an hour before their second in a three-game series versus the New York Yankees, the Blue Jays announced that Guerrero Jr. will be out of the lineup tonight due to discomfort in his right knee.

The timing of this is very unfortunate for the Blue Jays, who are just 0.5 games ahead of the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners in the wild card race. Making matters even worse is that despite his struggles this season, Guerrero’s bat has come to life as of late, as he hit homers in three straight games from September 14 to September 16.

On the season, Guerrero is hitting a rather disappointing .264 with 24 homeruns and 90 RBIs. There has been speculation as to whether or not he has been battling an injury, as his swing mechanics have been off for several months. Whether or not his knee was contributing to that at all is unknown at this time, though there should be a further update after tonight’s game or prior to tomorrows.

With Guerrero out of the lineup, Cavan Biggio will hit third in the lineup while Matt Chapman is hitting cleanup. Whit Merrifield, who was set to have a day off, will now slide in at second base and hit sixth in the lineup.

The Blue Jays were able to defeat the Yankees in the first of their three-game series yesterday, taking it by a 7-1 final. They will look to win the series tonight with Kevin Gausman on the mound, while the Yankees will be going with Michael King as they look to even it up at one apiece.

More to come…

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