MILWAUKEE — Toronto Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. fouled off a pitch in the fourth inning Monday night and lost his grip on the bat.
He didn’t get it back for another couple of innings.
Guerrero’s bat went flying and got stuck in the upper portions of protective netting that is designed to protect fans from foul balls. Guerrero went on to ground out to second while using a different bat.
Meanwhile, his original bat remained stuck, high above the Blue Jays’ dugout, as his teammates tried coming up with ways to get it down.
“I knew after the game I was going to get the bat at some point, but all my teammates were asking me if I really wanted it back, if I wanted to use it,” Guerrero said through a translator after the Blue Jays’ 3-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. “I said, ‘Yes, I would like to use it.’ So they did a great job of getting it back.”
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But it took plenty of time and creativity.
“We either watch it or we do something about it,” Blue Jays clubhouse manager Mustafa “Moose” Hassan said. “So we did something about it. It took a big collaboration. Quite a few guys came up with ideas.”
Hassan said Brewers visiting clubhouse manager Phil Rozewicz gave the Blue Jays a large metal rod that was adjustable, enabling it to extend about 20 feet or so. The rod happened to have a hook on the end of it.
The team then tried unsuccessfully on numerous occasions to use the rod to get the bat down. Toronto pitcher Chris Bassitt said center fielder Kevin Kiermaier came up with the idea to put a ring of tape around the hook. That would enable the tape to circle the bat and eventually retrieve it.
It still took some time, but Bassitt finally was the person to get the bat down at the start of the sixth inning to a round of cheers. The bat slipped through the circle of tape and landed on top of the dugout before the Blue Jays handed it to Guerrero.
“We kind of missed a couple of times, but I guess the third or fourth time was the lucky charm,” Hassan said.
The Blue Jays did get the bat off the netting in time for Guerrero to use it for his final two plate appearances. He hit a fly to the left-field warning track in the seventh inning and ended the game by grounding out.