Vladimir Guerrero echoes every Blue Jays fan after embarrassing Jordan Romano

When Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled with one out in the ninth, many fans may have questioned whether Manager John Schneider should send out a pinch runner for the Blue Jays slugger. After all, Guerrero’s sprint speed ranks in the 34th percentile and the Blue Jays had some players on the bench who are much faster such as Myles Straw and Ernie Clement.

Vladimir Guerrero echoes every Blue Jays fan after embarrassing Jordan Romano

But Guerrero told those guys, “Save your legs for another day,” and promptly took off for his first steal of the season.

With Guerrero now in scoring position, the Blue Jays got Alejandro Kirk to the plate and he delivered a game ending walk off hit for Toronto, cashing in Vladdy and giving the Blue Jays a 2-1 win. What stands out in the play by Vladdy is that it came against a former teammate, and good friend, Jordan Romano, who is now the closer for the Phillies.  

Hazel Mae tweeted after the game, “Asked Vladimir Guerrero Jr what it was like facing Phillies' closer, Jordan Romano: "It's weird, but he's not my teammate anymore. He's still my friend, my brother, and I still love him but we're on different teams now, so you have to turn that page. He's my enemy right now."

That likely reflects the sentiment of many Blue Jays fans who held a soft spot in their hearts for Romano. Not only is the 32-year-old a player who was drafted by the Blue Jays and came up through their system, but he’s also from Markham, Ontario – a city of almost 340,000 people located just 30 km northeast from Downtown Toronto.

Romano spent six relatively successful years in a Blue Jays uniform, accumulating a 7.7 bWAR between 2019-2024. He had a 2.90 ERA in 231 games, with 315 strikeouts in 252.1 IP. He recorded 105 saves with the Blue Jays, the third most in franchise history, In the middle of the first inning of Tuesday’s series opener, the Blue Jays welcomed back Romano with a tribute video.

But once that moment was done, it was game time, and the Blue Jays got the better of their former teammate on Wednesday night. Mae tweeted, “Guerrero recalled Romano was "slow to the plate," and with catcher JT Realmuto out of the ballgame, he thought to himself "I've got to take a shot." Guerrero steals 2B, and scores winning run on Alejandro Kirk's game winning hit.”