Vladimir Guerrero Jr. snaps Rogers Centre homer drought in big Blue Jays inning

Embattled Blue Jays slugger takes Baltimore starter Trevor Rogers yard for first dinger at home in almost 11 months

Published Sep 13, 2026  •  Last updated 2 minutes ago  •  2 minute read

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays receives the Blue Jays home run jacket from George Springer after hitting a solo home run in the fifth inning during a game against the Baltimore Orioles at Rogers Centre on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Toronto. Photo by Vaughn Ridley /Getty Images

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Finally, it is home sweet dome for Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

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The Toronto Blue Jays slugger swatted his first home run of the season at Rogers Centre on Sunday afternoon, hitting a juicy 79-m.p.h. sweeper from Baltimore Orioles lefty Trevor Rogers over the left-field fences in the fifth inning.

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It was Guerrero’s first dinger at home in almost 11 months. The last time he went yard in Toronto was on Oct. 19, 2025, against the Seattle Mariners in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series.

Since then and including the World Series, he had hit 10 home runs in total – all of the them on the road.

“SAY IT WITH US: #PLAKATA,” the Blue Jays social media account said on X while posting a highlight of the looping 350-foot shot, which had an exit velocity of 94 m.p.h.

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Guerrero battling boo birds at Rogers Centre

Guerrero’s struggles have been well documented this season and have led to boos from a Rogers Centre faithful that was hoping for another run at a World Series title after losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games last fall.

The two-time Silver Slugger owned a .259 batting average and career-worst .683 OPS heading into the crucial matchup with the Orioles as both teams chase the third and final wild card spot in the AL.

His underlying stats have been no better either as his average exit velocity was a mediocre 90.4 m.p.h. heading into Sunday, down by more than 2 m.p.h. from his career average and more than 5 m.p.h. from his career high in 2021. His barrel percentage is also in the single digits for the first time since his sophomore season.

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Guerrero, in the first year of a $500-million, 14-year contract, is all but guaranteed to finish with less than 20 homers for the first time since the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, when he hit nine home runs. The following season, he smacked a career-best 48 dingers during a season in which the Blue Jays played some of their home games in Dunedin, Fla., and Buffalo, N.Y.

As an added cherry on top on Sunday, the Blue Jays went back-to-back-to-back in that fifth inning against Rogers with George Springer, his 15th of the season, and Kazuma Okamoto, with his team-leading 32nd bomb, sandwiching Guerrero’s dinger.

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