The Toronto Blue Jays climbed back to .500 on Monday with a 4-2 win over the Houston Astros at Rogers Centre, improving to 39-39 on the season. Toronto got a strong outing from Dylan Cease, who struck out eight over 5 2/3 innings. Kazuma Okamoto paced the offense with a home run and a double, Myles Straw drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh, and Alejandro Kirk added an insurance RBI in the eighth.
Ernie Clement played a big role in that win. In his first game back after missing two straight against the Chicago Cubs with left hip soreness, Clement went 1-for-3 and returned to the middle of Toronto’s infield.
It was an encouraging response from one of the Blue Jays’ steadiest hitters after the club managed his workload over the weekend.
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The Blue Jays will try to make it two straight wins over Houston on Tuesday, but they will do so without Clement in the starting lineup. When Toronto announced its lineup ahead of the matchup, Clement was not included, with Luis Urías drawing the start at second base instead.
Manager John Schneider confirmed Clement remains out because of the hip issue. Schneider said the Blue Jays are “trying to get ahead of it and give him a breather with quick turnaround today” and added that the club “didn’t want him to take a step back” (h/t Hazel Mae of Sportsnet).
Clement has been one of the best stories on Toronto’s roster this season. Through 76 games, the 30-year-old is batting .293 with 86 hits, 20 doubles, seven home runs, 28 RBIs and a .753 OPS.
His strong first half has also turned him into a legitimate All-Star candidate. In the second round of fan voting released Monday, Clement moved into the overall American League lead with 2,054,130 votes, putting him on track for the first MLB All-Star selection of his career.
