Ernie

Clement

It’s the third straight game that Giménez has missed after suffering a right hamstring injury. The Blue Jays remain hopeful that he’ll be able to avoid a trip to the injured list. Ernie Clement will once again cover shortstop in his place and will bat sixth against Yankees’ left-hander Carlos Rodon on Sunday afternoon.

Ernie Clement takes over at shortstop for the second consecutive contest. The encouraging news is that Giménez appears likely to avoid a trip to the injured list after being reevaluated prior to Saturday afternoon’s tilt in New York. It sounds like there’s a chance he’s ready to return in a couple days after suffering a right hamstring injury earlier this week.

Clement receives some time off after waking up with an illness on Wednesday morning. The versatile 30-year-old should be ready to return in a couple days.

The Astros might have pulled it out afterwards in the bottom of the 10th, but Yordan Alvarez, who slowed up thinking there wouldn’t be a play, was thrown out at second on his inning-opening RBI hit into the corner in right. Clement’s homer off Bennett Sousa was his first of the second half and ninth of the year. It was just his second hit in his last six games.

Toronto is making more of an effort to manage Okamoto’s workload after he played 93 games before the All-Star break. It’ll be Ernie Clement moving over to the hot corner in his place on Wednesday evening.

With his team having totaled two runs the last three days, Jays manager John Schneider will just keep tweaking things until something clicks. Nathan Lukes and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who have been hitting second and third, respectively, have both been moved up one slot tonight. Kazuma Okamoto is down to sixth after spending most of the last month batting fourth and fifth.

Clement singled in the first inning, then doubled in the second. He then brought a run in to score on a sacrifice fly in the third, part of a five-run inning for Toronto. Clement later knocked his third hit to lead off the ninth and scored on a groundout. The 30-year-old infielder is hitting .298/.319/.434 with seven homers, 39 runs scored, and 30 RBI across 354 plate appearances.

Clement is 14-for-60 with one RBI in his last 17 games, with his slump briefly predating his brief absence due to a hip injury, and he’s now sitting at .293/.316/.430 for the season. Remarkably, though, he was the leading vote-getting in AL All-Star balloting anyway. He’s on pace to finish with 13 homers, 53 RBI, 69 runs scored and about two WAR in 622 plate appearances.

It sounds like a precautionary move and fantasy managers should consider him day-to-day for now. It’ll be rookie Sean Keys moving over to cover first base with Ernie Clement at the hot corner and Luis Urías entering the lineup at second. Guerrero has been through a tough season at the plate with just four home runs across 81 games. There should be an update on his status following Tuesday’s contest in Toronto.

Clement was held out of the starting lineup each of the previous two nights due to soreness in his hip, though he did come in off the bench on Wednesday and play a couple of innings at shortstop. He’s back in there at shortstop and batting second for the Jays against Rangers’ southpaw MacKenzie Gore on Thursday evening in Toronto.