Teoscar Hernández shows the Blue Jays, once again, what they've been missing all year

When it comes to fans’ memories of former Toronto Blue Jay Teoscar Hernández, many will remember his huge two home run performance against the Seattle Mariners during Game 2 of the AL Wild Card series last year at Rogers Centre. Unfortunately, we all know how that ended up, but Hernández has shown time and time again in the past that he could provide the Jays with the offensive outburst and clutch hitting at the right times.

Well, fast forward to 2023, with Hernández now with the Mariners, he has put that ability on full display for the past two games against his former team. On Friday, with two outs and Jays’ closer Jordan Romano on the mound, who is among the top 10 in the league in save conversion %, Hernández took the first pitch he saw and delivered a game-winning single to right field, much to the joy of the hometown faithful that had to compete with the Jays’ fans that had travelled to Seattle in support of their team.

Just for good measure, Hernández put a strong exclamation mark performance down on Saturday as well. As in the bottom of the 7th inning, with the game deadlock at 7-7 after the Mariners had just come back from a 7-4 deficit, and with two outs once again, Hernández delivers the game-winning RBI double as the Mariners would hold on for a 9-8 win to extend their winning streak to three games as they look for the sweep on Sunday.

Two separate days, and two clutch hits under his belt to propel his team to victory. That has been something the Jays have sorely missed throughout the 2023 season. On the other hand, Hernández has been doing it all year for the Mariners, as he is hitting .327 with runners in scoring position this year with 40 runs driven in, and he is just as effective in the clutch with RISP with two outs, hitting .310 with 15 RBI.

Good news though is that Hernández recently didn’t rule out the notion of potentially returning the Jays in the near future in an interview with Jeff Blair and Kevin Barker on Sportsnet 590 The FAN.

So perhaps a possible reunion may be in the cards as he could be the ideal trade target that the Jays can pursue as the deadline approaches. That way, we don’t have to see Hernández keep doing what he has been doing to the Jays in back-to-back games, but doing it masterfully for the Jays once again with the boys in blue against other teams instead.