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TORONTO — With three hits in Game 7 of the World Series on Saturday night, Toronto Blue Jays infielder Ernie Clement set a major league record with 30 hits in one postseason.

Clement broke the mark previously held by Randy Arozarena, who had 29 hits as a rookie with the Tampa Bay Rays during the 2020 postseason. Arozarena and the Rays, like the Blue Jays on Saturday night, lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.

Tampa Bay played 20 games in four playoff rounds that year after a pandemic-shortened regular season. Toronto played 18 games in three playoff rounds this season.

Clement singled in the second inning Saturday, singled and scored in the sixth and broke the record with a leadoff double in the eighth that chased Dodgers reliever Emmet Sheehan.

Clement also extended his hitting streak to 13 games, a Blue Jays postseason record. Toronto catcher Pat Borders had a 12-game hitting streak in 1992.

Playing in his first postseason, Clement boosted his batting average to .411 after going 3-for-5 in Game 7. He had one home run and nine RBIs in the playoffs.

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Clement nearly won the World Series for the Blue Jays in the bottom of the ninth, but his long drive to left-center was caught on the warning track with the bases loaded, sending Game 7 to extra innings with the score tied at 4.

Clement, 29, was drafted by Cleveland in 2017 but designated for assignment in September 2022. He was claimed by the Athletics later that month but released the following spring before signing a minor league deal with Toronto.

Clement played in a career-high 157 games during the regular season, appearing at all four infield positions. He hit .277 with 9 home runs and 50 RBIs.

He set career highs with 12 home runs and 51 RBIs for the Blue Jays in 2024.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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In an epic World Series that came to a thrilling conclusion in a classic Game 7 on Saturday night at Rogers Centre, the Blue Jays lost a heartbreaker to the Dodgers after being within two outs of their first championship in 32 years.

Despite the loss, Toronto made history with tremendous performances from several players, particularly at the plate — the Blue Jays set a postseason record by scoring 105 runs. Much of that was fueled by names you would expect, like Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette and George Springer.

But especially in the playoffs, there are often surprising heroes. In this case, the one that stood out the most was third baseman Ernie Clement, who set a single-postseason record with 30 hits and ran his postseason hitting streak up to 13. Clement, who posted a .277/.313/.398 slash line over 157 games in the regular season, picked up three hits in World Series Game 7 to eclipse the mark of 29 set by the Rays†Randy Arozarena in 2020.

Overall this postseason, Clement produced a slash line of .411/.416/.562 in 18 games.

“Historic,†said Blue Jays manager John Schneider. “You don’t see that very often. We’re talking about really good pitchers — right-handers, left-handers. Ernie had a phenomenal year. I hope he wins a Gold Glove. He should. And he kind of became one of the faces of our team because of the way he plays.â€

Clement hit .387 (12-for-31) with three doubles in the Fall Classic and set a single-postseason record with 10 multi-hit games, playing a major role in Torontoâ€s historic offensive performance in the 2025 playoffs.

It all began inauspiciously for Clement when he went 0-for-3 in Game 1 of the AL Division Series against the Yankees. But from there, he caught fire, going nine for his next 11 with a double and a homer as Toronto dispatched New York in four games.

It was a similar story in the AL Championship Series against the Mariners. After going hitless in Game 1, Clement hit .360 (9-for-25) with two doubles and a triple the rest of the series, which the Blue Jays won in seven.

Clement, a utility player who has seen time at every infield position but catcher and has also appeared in the outfield, was a fourth-round pick by Cleveland in the 2017 Draft. He made his MLB debut with Cleveland in 2021, but he was placed on waivers the following year and picked up by the Aâ€s.

The Aâ€s released Clement in March 2023, and the Blue Jays signed him two days later. He turned things around with Toronto, becoming an everyday player with strong defense at multiple infield positions.

While Clement and the Blue Jays fell just short of winning it all this year, Schneider sees a bright future for his ballclub, with Clement playing a key role.

“Unbelievable run that he was on this entire postseason and, man, he’s turned himself from what people think was a waiver wire pickup or a guy that’s kicked around the Minors,†Schneider said, “he’s turned himself into an everyday Major Leaguer that is going to contribute to win a world championship.â€

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TORONTO — The postseason is the birthplace for unlikely heroes.

The Blue Jays arenâ€t short on stars, but what makes this engine run is the neverending list of guys stepping up in big moments. The postseason is the perfect place for them to thrive.

“I think there’s guys in the past who have put a whole organization on their back and let it ride,†said veteran outfielder George Springer. “There are times when it takes every single guy in that locker room. I don’t think there’s a singular human who can propel a team to win every single game. It takes everybody. There’s individual moments throughout the course of a game that contribute to the success of a team.â€

“For us as a team, I don’t think anybody thinks about that. I don’t think anybody cares about that. It’s about the name on the front and not the name on the back.â€

“I think we’re kind of not really talking about Varsho’s day at the plate, kind of ho-hum, a couple doubles, a couple homers,†Schneider said.

In the win, which gave Toronto a 2-0 lead in the series, Varsho went 4-for-5 with — like Schneider said — a pair of doubles and a pair of homers, obliterating the clubâ€s postseason total-base record with 12. He had the fifth multihomer game in Blue Jays postseason history.

It was one of many big days on the Blue Jays’ side of things.

“He’s been phenomenal,†Schneider added. “I wish we had him the entire year — his numbers would be off the charts. It’s a tough assignment to go in against Max Fried, and you feel a little bit better when you know a guy’s convicted in a specific approach and looking for some pitches and knowing what his swing does against certain pitches. It’s not easy to do what he’s doing, but just a phenomenal day from him.â€

Varsho and infielder Ernie Clement combined for seven RBIs in the win, illustrating the clubâ€s M.O. perfectly. Anybody can step up at any time. But sometimes, itâ€s everybody.

Clementâ€s second-inning two-run homer got the scoring started, giving rookie starter Trey Yesavage breathing room in an electric environment in Toronto.

The crowd at the Rogers Centre was already reeling after Aaron Judge botched a play in the right-field corner, allowing Varsho to reach third for his first hit of the day. Clementâ€s home run would have blown the roof off the place if it hadnâ€t already been open.

In a game where Yesavage buried the Yankees†offense for most of the day and Blue Jays superstar Vladimir Guerrero Jr. launched a grand slam to fully break the game open, it was Clement that got the scoring started with his first postseason hit.

“I don’t remember anything,†Clement said. “I totally blacked out. I honestly don’t know what I was doing. I looked like an idiot, but it is what it is. … I had to walk back into the clubhouse and kind of gather myself because my heart was beating so fast — I was so excited. Had to reel it back in and then finish the ballgame.â€

The Blue Jays continued to pour on runs all day, even staving off a mild Yankees comeback attempt in the late innings. And ultimately, the 12-0 lead the Blue Jays built after five innings was too much to overcome.

Torontoâ€s 23 runs in Games 1 and 2 of this ALDS are the most scored in the first two games of a single postseason.

“I think everybody’s just playing a part of it,†Varsho told FS1’s John Smoltz postgame. “There could be one guy that does really well for the night. As a group, we couldn’t just rely on Bo [Bichette], Vladdy, George to do that for the whole season. If you look at the whole season, there were a bunch of guys that had big moments. We kind of all trusted each other and trusted ourselves to go out there and go play every game like we know how to do.â€

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