Davis takes turn as latest Blue Jays hero

In 2019, the Yankees rode their “Next Man Up” mantra to 103 wins and an ALCS appearance. Looking across the diamond at Sahlen Field on Tuesday night, the Blue Jays must have looked awfully familiar.

With injuries to key players on every corner of their roster, the Blue Jays just keep finding ways to win with a different star seemingly every night. In Tuesday’s scrappy, 2-1 win, which pushed Toronto's lead over the Yanks for second place in the AL East to three games, that was outfielder Jonathan Davis, who launched a two-run home run in his first plate appearance of 2020.

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Added to the roster on Monday to replace the injured Teoscar Hernández, who’s tied for fourth in the Major Leagues with 14 home runs, Davis couldn’t be a more opposite player to the one he replaced. Small, speedy and known for his excellent glove without much power at the plate, perhaps it makes sense that it was Davis who launched the 411-foot shot in a season where the unlikeliest contributors have picked the Blue Jays up at the perfect times.

“It means a lot. I’ve been wanting to be up with the team all year, of course,” Davis said. “Guys have been playing well, which is awesome. When a guy like Teo goes down, it’s always in the back of your mind like, ‘Man, I wish I was out here because he was having a great year.’ I hope he gets back soon. It’s just good to be able to contribute while he’s out and continue to keep the ball rolling.”

Davis has plenty of fans within the organization, because of who he is as a person as much as who he is as a player, and manager Charlie Montoyo might be the president of that club. Davis said it felt like it was his birthday when he got back to the dugout, and that joy was still evident on his face hours later.

This has been a year of both blessings and challenges for Davis. He was away from the club early in Spring Training as he and his wife, Hannah, had their first child, Kapri. Then, as clubs were gearing up to resume training in the summer, Davis tested positive for COVID-19. While he exhibited no symptoms beyond light congestion, that still put him further behind the rest of the outfield group as the season began.

“The decisions that the front office made to go with the guys they did, I respect it 1,000%,” Davis said. “I love those guys. They’ve been doing a great job. Honestly, I just wanted to be with the team. Real talk. It feels good to be able to come out tonight and contribute. Those guys are my brothers.”

No one in the Blue Jays’ dugout appreciated Davis' home run stroke more than starter Taijuan Walker. A quick glance will show Walker tossing four shutout innings, but rarely has a starter done so in a more difficult manner.

Walker opened by forcing two weak ground-ball outs, looking just as sharp as he had in his Blue Jays debut on Aug. 29, when Orioles hitters couldn’t seem to get the barrel on anything. Then, in an instant, Walker lost the strike zone.

Three consecutive walks stretched out that inning before Walker escaped the jam, and it didn’t get any easier in the second. Catcher Danny Jansen dropped a popup in foul territory, which forced Walker to throw a few more pitches, then Lourdes Gurriel Jr. misplayed a ball near the wall in left-center field that he seemed to have trouble tracking through the air. Through just two innings, Walker had given out four free passes, but stranded five.

“I wanted to try to get seven innings just to help the bullpen,” Walker said. “They’ve been rock solid for us. Even today, they picked me up big time going five innings. It was a tough one, but it’s encouraging to put up zeros. Especially with the Yankees, they have a good lineup and they can do a lot of damage.”

The Blue Jays might need another “next man up” soon, though, depending on the status of Rowdy Tellez, who injured his right knee in the eighth inning on Tuesday. Tracking a foul ball into the right-field foul territory, Tellez stepped on a “soft spot," according to Montoyo, and felt something in his knee. He stayed in the game to finish the inning defensively, but is scheduled to have an MRI on Wednesday.