BOSTON -- It was obvious what would happen when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. walked calmly to the plate in the top of the ninth, the Blue Jays down 1-0, him being their final hope.

Try, for a moment, to picture Guerrero chopping a harmless ground ball to second base to end the game. In 2021, you can’t.

• Box score

Guerrero took an 0-1 curveball from Matt Barnes and drove it through the rain, over the Green Monster, over the billboard and out of Fenway Park entirely. Somehow, Guerrero has forced us all to expect the incredible. This was a signature moment in a signature season and the 100th home run Toronto has hit, more than any team in the Majors. It just wasn’t enough, as the Blue Jays were walked off a few minutes later, 2-1.

After the game, Guerrero was probably scrolling through the schedule on his phone, looking for the next series at Fenway Park. He homered in every game, the first Blue Jays hitter to do that in a four-game series since Edwin Encarnacion in 2010, to go along with nine hits and eight RBIs.

“That’s a guy who has ‘it.’ You don’t teach that,” said manager Charlie Montoyo. “Against a good closer, he just hits the ball 500 miles on a breaking pitch. This is fun to watch. I don’t think we talk enough about him. I think we do, but we should talk about him more. It’s not easy what he’s doing.”

The Blue Jays' staff and players are asked daily to describe what it’s like to watch Guerrero. The thesaurus is only so thick, but Guerrero keeps giving them reasons to dig. It’s leaving an impact on other clubs, too, especially those who saw Guerrero in 2019 and ‘20, when he wasn’t even scratching the surface of what he’s doing now.

“Amazing. Amazing. Let’s take the Red Sox-Blue Jays thing out of it,” said Boston manager Alex Cora. “It’s eye-opening when kids put in work and then it pays off. His swing is the same swing. His plate discipline is the same plate discipline. His body is different. He put work in, and you see it. I’m very proud of that kid, because that’s what it’s all about.”

Toronto’s offense was quiet until Guerrero split the sky open, with just three hits one night after putting up 18 runs. Not only did the loss overshadow Guerrero’s brilliance in the ninth, but also a dominant six-inning outing from Alek Manoah.

Manoah loves a good fight under the lights, and the sixth inning at Fenway Park on Monday night is the type of moment he craves.

Manoah battled back and forth with Alex Verdugo, trading pitches for foul balls before finally striking him out with a slider. Next up was J.D. Martinez, who met the same fate in quicker fashion. Each time, Manoah watched the strike three call, pivoted and walked back around the edge of the mound.

He kept things to a simmer until Xander Bogaerts swung over strike three, a slider, just like the others. Manoah pumped both fists on the mound, took one skip towards the dugout and pumped them again. You’ve seen the Blue Jays’ No. 6 jersey leave the mound like this before.

“It’s just extremely exciting,” Manoah said. “As long as you give this team a chance, man, they can make things happen. As long as we can get that tying run to the plate … luckily today we were only down one, so the tying run was at the plate the moment anyone stepped in the box. Then Vladdy does what Vladdy does. It was a crazy ride of emotions. I’m just ready for the next series, to go win a series.”

It capped off a dominant performance from Manoah, who battled through some tough counts early in the night before taking a firmer grip on the game midway through. With a 2.66 ERA through four Major League starts, this is no longer about the hype and hope of a top prospect’s debut. Toronto needs Manoah to be a part of this rotation’s success, period, and his role is only getting more important from here.

It was a series split where the Blue Jays had all of the pieces, but didn’t line them up in the right order. The weaknesses are still clear, particularly in the bullpen after Rafael Dolis gave up the walk-off hit with Jordan Romano being saved for a save situation. If Toronto can patch up some holes, though, performances like Guerrero’s and Manoah’s won’t be wasted.