Instant Reaction: Springer’s lead-off home run was the Blue Jays’ lone run in 2-1 loss to Pirates
Photo credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
Aug 20, 2025, 15:30 EDTUpdated: Aug 20, 2025, 18:10 EDT
In 2024, after weeks of struggle and much consternation, George Springer was removed from the leadoff spot in the Toronto Blue Jays’ order. There was a good reason for the move, as Springer was below the Mendoza Line and among the worst qualified hitters in the majors with a .558 OPS.
On Wednesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Springer came full circle: from fearsome leadoff hitter, to oft-injured big-ticket signing, to washed former star, and back to a force atop the lineup again.
Springer kicked off Wednesday’s game with a 10-pitch at-bat resulting in a home run, as he kept a hanging slider just fair for an immediate 1-0 lead. It was his second home run in as many days and first leadoff homer of 2025, cutting all-time leader Rickey Henderson’s lead to 20 over the second-placed Springer.
But that held as the Blue Jays’ lone run of the game as the rest of the lineup failed to solve Pirates starter Johan Oviedo, who allowed three base runners and struck out six over five innings. They didn’t fare much better against the Pirates’ bullpen, as the Blue Jays dropped the rubber match of the three-game set.
While Oviedo proceeded to strike out Bo Bichette and Alejandro Kirk swinging on four-seam fastballs down the middle after allowing the leadoff homer, the right-hander threw 22 pitches in the first inning, in large part thanks to Springer’s fight in the box.
Springer, now tied for the team lead in home runs at 21 and first in OPS at .905, took a non-competitive four-pitch walk in his next plate appearance and struck out in his third on seven pitches. His 3.9 pitches per plate appearance is above league-average and first on the Blue Jays among qualified hitters. Davis Schneider is the only non-qualified hitter with significant plate appearances above Springer on the team.
Bichette reached out and pulled an Oviedo slider for a ground-rule double to left to leadoff the fourth inning. However, the Blue Jays were unable to capitalize as Kirk and Nathan Lukes struck out and Varsho hit a fly-ball out.
Chris Bassitt racked up 10 strikeouts as he froze opposing hitters with his array of fastballs and got them to swing over the top of curveballs, allowing two earned runs on six hits and two walks over 5 2/3 innings. He started the game by striking out the first two batters looking on fastballs dotted on the outside edge.
Yet, later in the inning, Tommy Pham capped a two-out rally by hitting a sharp ground ball just inside the third base bag, plating runs from first and second to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead.
Bassitt struck out the side against the top of Pittsburgh’s order in the third, sandwiching a swinging K of Nick Gonzales on a low curveball between a couple called third strikes on low sinkers.
The right-hander retired eight consecutive batters after the Pham RBI double before the hot-headed outfielder came up again and ripped line-drive single to left in the fourth. Pham sat out the second game of the series after having altercation with Tyler Heineman in the first.
Familiar face Spencer Horwitz walked and scored in the first inning, but also flew out with two outs and the bases loaded in the fifth. The former Blue Jay went 3-for-10 in the series.
Pirates’ closer Dennis Santana started the ninth by freezing Bichette with a heater on the black, before Kirk hit a 97 mph, 370-foot out to the warning track in deep right, mere feet away from tying the game.
Next up for the Blue Jays is a weekend series against the Miami Marlins. Shane Bieber will make his Blue Jays debut on Friday, with that game starting at 7:10 PM ET. Blue Jays’ manager John Schneider told reporters Wednesday that Eric Lauer will be available out of the bullpen over the weekend, yet didn’t go as far as saying that the move to relief work is permanent for the lefty.