Danny Jansen makes MLB history by playing for both teams in the same game as Red Sox, Blue Jays resume

By Kaitlyn McGrath, Jen McCaffrey and Lauren Merola

BOSTON – Under sunny skies Monday afternoon, 112-year-old Fenway Park bore witness to a little more history.

Danny Jansen was batting for the Toronto Blue Jays on June 26 in a game against the Boston Red Sox with one on and one out on a 0-1 count, when the heavens opened and the game was suspended due to severe weather.

Two months later, the game resumed on Monday, but now Jansen plays for the Red Sox. The Red Sox traded for Jansen on July 27, raising the possibility of one player appearing for both teams in the same game.

This possibility became a reality on Monday.

When Jansen was substituted into the game to catch the Red Sox, he sat behind the plate for an at bat in which he had started as a hitter. (Boston’s original catcher in the game, Reese McGuire, was designated for assignment shortly after the team traded for Jansen.)

With Jansen behind the plate, the Blue Jays brought in Daulton Varsho to take over Jansen’s original 0-1 batting performance. Varsho struck out, fouled Nick Pivetta’s first pitch and swung through the second. (If the The count had been two strikesthe ball would have landed on Jansen’s line, but went to Varsho instead.) After the strikeout, the runner on first took off to second base and Jansen’s throw ended up in center. But Will Wagner followed with a strikeout to end the inning.

“At first I didn’t think much about it,” Jansen said of the possibility of playing for both teams before the game. “But now we’re here and it’s going to be a cool moment, especially when it’s all said and done, to look back on and it’s such a strange thing that happens, but I’m grateful that I have the opportunity to do it and it’s going to be cool.”

Pinch-Hitting for Danny Jansen: Daulton Varsho

Catch now: Danny Jansen

🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/PXnVZvbpml

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) August 26, 2024

The Blue Jays came out on top, 4-1, in the match that spanned two months. Toronto broke a scoreless tie in the seventh on a solo home run by George Springer. The Blue Jays added three more runs in the eighth on doubles by Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. and Addison Barger. Jarren Duran’s solo homer in the bottom of the eighth inning accounted for the Red Sox’ lone run. Jansen finished the game 1 for 4, with all four of his official at-bats coming as a member of the Red Sox.

Before the game, the Red Sox released their revised lineup, with Jansen batting seventh and Triston Casas now batting eighth, where McGuire batted in the original lineup. Normally a starter, Pivetta took over on the mound for Kutter Crawford in what will officially be considered a relief.

Game 1, Red Sox vs. Blue Jays: Duran CF, Hamilton 2B, Abreu RF, Devers 3B, Refsnyder LF, Yoshida DH, Jansen C, Casas 1B, Rafaela SS, Pivetta P

— Jen McCaffrey (@jcmccaffrey) August 26, 2024

The Blue Jays had to replace five players from the original lineup who are no longer available, including traded players and shortstop Bo Bichette, who is on the IL.

The resumption of play introduces a number of other wrinkles beyond Jansen’s dual duties.

For example, both Leo Jiménez and Wagner made their MLB debuts after June 26. But since they will appear in the suspended match that will go down in the record books for having taken place on June 26, they will have appeared in a match. before arriving in the majors.

“We’re going in a DeLorean,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider recently joked, referring to the car best known for traveling back in time in the movie “Back to the Future.”

This has happened before. The Athletics Jayson Stark recently wrote about how Juan Soto debuted in 2018 before he debuted. “He arrived in the major leagues on May 20, with the Washington Nationals. But he later played in a match that was suspended on May 15 – and homered. That means he debuted before he debuted and also homered before his first homer,” wrote Stark.

Meanwhile, the Blue Jays went to their bench late to use Joey Loperfido as a defensive replacement, meaning he was technically in two spots at once. On June 26, the outfielder was with the Houston Astros and went 0-for-3 on a hit-by-pitch in a 7-1 win against the Colorado Rockies. Since he played left field in the last two innings, he will be on paper as if he played two games in the same day.

The Red Sox moved to 67-63 on the season, while the Blue Jays are 64-68.

Required reading

(Photo: G Fiume/Getty Images)