Vlad Jr.’s Monster HR merely a fleeting moment for reeling Blue Jays

BOSTON — It felt like Fenway Park was going to fold in and swallow the Blue Jays whole.

They imploded Monday night in stunning fashion, and of their seven consecutive losses, none have felt nearly as crushing. Lost in the fire of the Blue Jays’ 7-6 loss to the Red Sox was the comfortable lead they carried into the eighth inning on the back of the biggest moment of Vladimir Guerrero Jr.‘s season.

Well, it felt like a moment when it happened. Guerrero launched a 471-foot home run in the seventh inning, the longest of his career as it soared over the Green Monster, over the deepest advertising board that towers above it and out of the stadium altogether. This felt like the swing that could change not only a game, but the entire energy of a team in a tailspin.

That’s what makes this loss so painful, stolen from such a high. Drop an egg into a bowl and it might crack. Drop an egg off the counter and it will splatter all over the floor.

“This game is cruel. This game can really beat you up,” said manager John Schneider. “It can punch you.”

Fenway Park became a living, breathing thing the moment Jarren Duran’s infield pop up fell between Addison Barger and Isiah Kiner-Falefa in the bottom of the eighth, each looking to the other as it bounced between them. A two-run home run to the next batter, David Hamilton, brought on that funny feeling. Here we go again.

The inning should have been over when Romy Gonzalez stepped in with two outs and the bases loaded, but it wasn’t. Toronto’s pitching change gave the Red Sox crowd another opening.

The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside” played, a playlist staple at Fenway.

As the crowd’s voices grew, word by word, the big screen in center cut to a shot of the NBA Champion Boston Celtics watching on from a suite at Fenway. Derrick White climbed down to the railing and pulled even more out of the 35,856-person choir, louder than they’d been all night. Zach Pop’s warmup pitches almost allowed time for one more run through the chorus, but as the song faded out, the crowd took it for two more lines as Gonzalez stepped in:

‘Cause I just can’t look, it’s killing me

Tie game. An inning, an error and a balk later, the Blue Jays had just been walked off by the Red Sox. This time, “Shipping up to Boston” was ringing in their ears as the Celtics’ coach, Joe Mazzulla, held the Larry O’Brien Trophy into the air for the crowd. The entire city of Boston, where parades have become an annual tradition, was standing on top of Toronto.

Cruel as it may be, the Blue Jays have no choice but to show up tomorrow and try to win a ballgame. They’re 35-43 now. This season isn’t going to wait for them, and at this rate, it’s passing them by completely. Something clearly needs to change. Better, some things need to change.

“Everything, everything, everything,” Guerrero said through a club interpreter. “We’ve got to get better at everything right now. Winning games. That’s what we need to get better at. Winning games.”

He repeated that word in Spanish — “Todo, todo, todo” — so quickly and intently. Guerrero was so visibly disappointed as he walked slowly towards the microphones, holding the added frustration of having played so well with nothing to show.

Schneider continued to come back to a point that’s been echoed by his players. The Blue Jays aren’t quitting, Schneider said, and are putting in the work. That’s not the problem. They’re well past the point of valuing process over results, though, and as Chris Bassitt has said several times lately, everyone in that clubhouse knows where the Blue Jays are right now.

“We’re staying together. We’re not having fights and things like that,” Springer explained. “We’re all in this together. There are guys working their butts off and it’s not working out for them, but we see the work every day. We just have to win.”

That’s the only option now. Just win, baby. Bassitt’s last four starts have been fantastic. He allowed just two runs over seven innings Monday, his only blemish a home run to Rafael Devers. He holds a 1.73 ERA over those four starts and the Blue Jays have lost each one.

​​“We’ve got to win,” Bassitt repeated. “Starting tomorrow, we have to win.”