PITTSBURGH — A couple of weeks ago, Brandon Belt looked to be on the verge of taking off. The veteran slugger, coming off knee surgery last fall, started slow after a cautious spring, striking out in 15 of his first 25 plate appearances. But he picked up three hits in the Toronto Blue Jays' April 11 home opener, started working good at-bats from there and then drove his team to a 6-1 win at Yankee Stadium with a two-hit, four-RBI night on April 24.
Instead of launching him on a strong run, however, Belt crashed again, going 3-for-21 in his next seven games. Telling of where the Blue Jays’ confidence in him stood was Monday night in Boston, when with two outs and the bases loaded in the seventh, manager John Schneider hit Alejandro Kirk in his place against righty Chris Martin, exactly the type of reliever Belt’s left-handed bat should be facing.
All of which made Belt's latest breakout, a two-double, two-walk, two-RBI outing behind a strong Jose Berrios in Saturday night's 8-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates all the more intriguing. With Vladimir Guerrero Jr. sitting out for the first time this season with some left wrist soreness, the damage Belt delivered from the sixth spot was a reminder of what he has to offer if right at the plate and what it means to a lineup that needs that thump from the left side.
While Daulton Varsho has come on the past week – he added two more hits Saturday, including an RBI single that opened the scoring in a four-run first – and Kevin Kiermaier has performed as expected if not better, production from Belt and Cavan Biggio can ensure the batting order doesn’t skew too right-handed.
“The balance for sure,” Schneider said of what Belt can provide, “and if you can have that consistent approach from him night-in and night-out, it kind of rubs off on everyone else a little bit. He's been doing this for a long time and he's kind of had that approach his whole career so if he can really lock it in, that's going to be huge for us.”
Biggio, a late addition once Guerrero was scratched, enjoyed just his second multi-hit game of the season and made a terrific diving stab on a Rodolfo Castro grounder down the first-base line that ended the fifth and likely saved two runs. His infield single in the second forced a Castro throwing error which brought home Belt with one run before a Kiermaier single plated two more for a 7-0 lead, and he added another single in the seventh.
It's the type of well-rounded contribution that's within Biggio’s skill-set but the offensive piece, difficult as it is to provide amid sporadic playing time, needs to be there more consistently.
"He offers so much value because of his defensive versatility and because of his on-base skills, the way he runs the bases – there's a lot to like about Cavan,” said Schneider. “When he is in there, having the at-bats like he did today, commanding the zone, love that he put the ball in play with two strikes there for the infield single, something that he was doing a lot in spring training. I know it's tough for players when they're not in there consistently. When you are in there you have to make the overall contribution like Cavan did.”
That nobody is really pushing at triple-A Buffalo right now — first baseman/outfielder Spencer Horwitz is off to a nice start but isn't beating down the door, while infielder Addison Barger, who looked the part during spring training, is still striking out way too often — is extending the runway for both Belt and Biggio to lock in.
But if it doesn't happen in the coming weeks, an impact left-handed bat will shoot atop the Blue Jays' shopping needs ahead of the trade deadline.
Belt's night before a PNC Park crowd of 34,882 spiked by Blue Jays fans suggested that the club may still be able to solve for that internally. His two-run double in the first made it 3-0 and he scored on Kirk's RBI single right after as the Blue Jays didn't look back.
“I've been feeling pretty good for the most part,” said Belt. “I just think my bat literally has been lagging behind when I'm swinging at a pitch. I just had to be a little bit more forceful with that, making sure I'm getting that through the zone a little bit quicker. And that's helped a lot. I've been pretty inconsistent for the most part of my career in the first month. It's fine. Use that as a learning experience. So I'll take what I learned this first month and use it for the rest of the season.”
To that end, Belt has been focused on quickening his bat through his “hands more than anything. I've been fileting a lot of stuff off the bat to left field or a foul, so that bat is not getting through the zone like I want it to. I want to try to catch those balls out front just a little bit more, but still be able to see it deep and make sure I'm swinging at strikes. I was able to work on that and it's worked so far.”
Berrios didn’t allow a baserunner until Jack Suwinski’s one-out walk in the fifth and Ke'Bryan Hayes followed with a single through the right side, but Biggio kept the game pinned down with his defensive gem on Castro.
Of Berrios’ seven strikeouts, four were looking, and five of them came on a slurve he threw 35 times, turning it almost into two different pitches by varying the velocity on it from 85.5 m.p.h. at the top end and 76.4 m.p.h. on the bottom end.
That made him unpredictable, since “if a team is looking for a breaking ball and I'm going to throw it, I'm going to throw it different, like slower or harder,” he explained. “I manipulated that pitch by pitch. Sometimes we have to figure out a way to get the hitters out.”
The only damage against Berrios came on a Connor Joe RBI single in the sixth and Suwinski's solo shot in the seventh when Anthony Bass later came on with one out and recorded two strikeouts to end the frame. Tim Mayza handled the eighth and Jay Jackson the ninth as the Blue Jays continued to correct from what really seemed like an aberration series in Boston.
Belt and Biggio played key roles in making that happen, a reminder both of what they might have in two players still trying to turn it up, and what also they very much need.
