Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Returns in 4-3 Win

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is back. The Blue Jays reinstated him from the seven-day concussion injured list Saturday, Sportsnet and the club both had it, and he hit second at first base in a 4-3 win over the Yankees in the Bronx. He went 2-for-5. Nathan Lukes drove in two, including a go-ahead solo homer in the eighth. Dylan Cease carried a no-hitter into the seventh. Louis Varland got the 29th save.

Guerrero bounced out in his first trip, then lined a 110.2 mph pull-side single, the hardest-hit ball of the afternoon, Sportsnet wrote. With the bases loaded and two out in the fourth he grounded out to second. A scorched single up the middle closed the 2-for-5 day. ESPN's box matched the two hits and one run. He scored on George Springer's RBI single in the first.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. return: 2-for-5 in 4-3 win

The concussion came last weekend at Rogers Centre, a third-base collision with George Lombard Jr.'s knee, Sportsnet reported. Guerrero said he blacked out and remembered none of the play. He missed six games. This was his first "real" head injury, he said, after a two-game winter-ball concussion as an 18-year-old. He DH'd for Dunedin on Thursday, went 1-for-1 with two walks, then cleared MLB's protocol Friday.

Davis Schneider was optioned to Triple-A Buffalo when Guerrero came off the IL, the Blue Jays announced. Guerrero's Saturday line, per ESPN and StatMuse: 5 at-bats, 1 run, 2 hits, 0 RBI. Sportsnet had him 4-for-18 as a team with runners in scoring position. The 110.2 mph single was the loud contact. The bases-loaded groundout was the old contact. Both are in the book.

Toronto finished with 15 hits and won 4-3, ESPN's gamecast showed. Springer singled Guerrero home in the first. Charles McAdoo singled home a run in the fourth. Lukes, pinch-hitting, singled home Alejandro Kirk in the fifth, then homered to right (384 feet) leading off the eighth, his eighth homer of the season, AP and ESPN both had it. The Sportsnet lede said a fifth-inning homer. The body, ESPN's play-by-play, and AP all put the homer in the eighth. That is the score that made it 4-1.

Cease's no-hit bid, then Varland's 29th save

Cease worked 6.2 innings, two hits, one earned run, eight strikeouts, five walks, ESPN's line. He had a no-hitter through two outs in the seventh, Sportsnet wrote, before Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Austin Wells singled. Wells drove in a run. Luis García Jr. hit a two-run homer off Tyler Rogers in the eighth, 4-3. Chisholm doubled to lead off the ninth. Varland retired the next three for his 29th save in 30 chances, AP reported.

The Blue Jays are 64-67. The Yankees are 73-56, CBS Sports had the records after the game. Guerrero's return does not fix a 96 wRC+ season by itself, Sportsnet noted. It does put the middle of the order back on the field for the last five weeks. This is the same stretch where Jacob deGrom reached 2,000 strikeouts. Saturday in the Bronx, the story was simpler: Vlad was in the two-hole, and Toronto held a one-run lead.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. FAQ

Did Vladimir Guerrero Jr. play Saturday vs the Yankees? Yes. He was reinstated from the seven-day concussion IL, hit second, played first base, and went 2-for-5 in a 4-3 Blue Jays win, per Sportsnet, ESPN, and AP.

What was Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s line in his return? 2-for-5, one run, no RBI. Sportsnet had a 110.2 mph single and a bases-loaded groundout in the fourth. ESPN's scoring play had him scoring on Springer's first-inning single.

Who closed the Blue Jays' 4-3 win? Louis Varland, 29th save. Dylan Cease struck out eight and took a no-hitter into the seventh. Nathan Lukes had two RBI, a pinch-hit single in the fifth and a solo homer in the eighth.