Monday night marked a big night for Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Andrés Giménez. Giménez went 2-for-4 on the night, crushing two home runs, a three-run bomb in the second inning and a two-run jack in the seventh. Both hits brought home all five of the Blue Jays' runs in Monday night's contest against the Tampa Bay Rays.
THERE HE GOES AGAIN! 🤩
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 12, 2026
Andrés Giménez has his second home run of the night 🔥 pic.twitter.com/HPuvmxE8Bb
It was Gimenez's first-ever multi-home run game in his Major League Baseball career. However, the starting pitching was Toronto's Achilles heel on Monday.
Blue Jays ace starting pitcher, Kevin Gausman, after reaching 2,000 career strikeouts in the same game, could not find his rhythm, allowing 10 hits and six runs after just 4.2 innings of work. The performance buried the Blue Jays early and put them too far away for a hot Giménez bat to reach.
It seems to be the theme of this season: when one thing goes right, two things go wrong. This frustrating inconsistency on both sides of the baseball has grounded the Blue Jays in the first quarter of this season.
A big reason for all of these inconsistencies has been the numerous injuries the Blue Jays have suffered this season. This is not a new story, but even when they get players back, they can't stay healthy for long, such as Addison Barger only getting into one game before injuring his elbow.
Giménez finding his footing is great news, but what should Toronto do next?
It is great to see Giménez finding his stride in the batter's box. The adjustments he made to his batting stance, leg kick, and swing have helped tremendously and have gathered praise from his team.
"He's swinging with some intent, too" said Blue Jays manager John Schneider post-game to Ethan Diamandas. "He gets overlooked because of his defense, but I think he is in a pretty good spot."
Giménez continued hitting well, getting another hit in Wednesday's 5-3 extra innings win against the Rays, but the Blue Jays may need to consider capitalizing on small ball opportunities. Giménez could be a major contributor to that. He only has a 25.6% hard-hit rate, which ranks in the fifth percentile, but he also has a 15.3% strike out percentage which ranks in the 86th percentile. This means he's consistently putting the ball in play, albeit, not very hard, but it's in play nonetheless.
The Blue Jays haven't been able to rely on the long ball as a winning strategy yet this year, even when they get two bombs in one game from their light hitting shortstop. It's not likely Giménez will continue to bring that power, but if he can keep his strikeout rate down, and keep putting the ball in play, the Blue Jays will take it.