Vladimir Guerrero Jr. struggled again at the plate on Tuesday, and now he appears to be dealing with some discomfort.
Guerrero Jr. went 0-3 with a walk in a 7-2 loss to the Houston Astros, his third straight game without a hit. The frustration and pain were visible in the eighth inning, when he tried to beat out a grounder and then stood near first base bent over with his hands on his knees. He stayed in the game after a brief chat with first-base coach Mark Budzinski, and afterwards manager John Schneider said Guerrero was “just tight and tired.”
“Nothing major,” Schneider added. “He’s obviously frustrated and it’s hot in here and we’re playing a lot of games in a row coming up, so we’ll just see how he is tomorrow offensively.”
Guerrero has posted the worst offensive numbers of his career so far in 2026, with just six home runs, 44 RBI and a .690 OPS entering Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, Guerrero spoke to Keegan Matheson of MLB.com about the team’s slim playoff hopes and took responsibility for the Blue Jays being four games back in the wild-card race.
“I have to start hitting,” Guerrero told Matheson. “I have to start hitting. I think we’ve been playing good. Sometimes, we get shut down, but it’s always one game at a time. I need to get hot so that we can keep going and try to make the playoffs.”
Guerrero, 27, is in the first season of a 14-year, $500-million contract that runs until he is 40 years old. The Blue Jays signed Guerrero to that deal with the expectation that he would carry the team offensively, as he did in 2025 when the Blue Jays reached Game 7 of the World Series.
With less than two months to go in 2026, he’s running out of time to turn things around.
“I lose sleep… we need to do a better job,” general manager Ross Atkins said on Blair and Barker Tuesday. “It has been very disappointing that we haven’t been able to provide the right support for him and the right feedback loop that is correcting this challenge.”
Despite that disappointment, Atkins said he had full confidence that Guerrero, Schneider and hitting coach David Popkins will eventually get to the bottom of this confounding season.
“Yes, we have an understanding of some of the differences that, whether they’re biomechanical, plan (or) approach, there are some subtle differences (but) there’s no glaring, alarming concern,” Atkins said. “But once those small differences start to become patterns, retraining them while you’re trying to retain confidence is a very difficult thing.”
The Blue Jays (53-61) return to the field Wednesday afternoon in Houston.
