NEW YORK — In the first inning on Wednesday night in the Bronx, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a home run.
Among the many aesthetic pleasures baseball promises every time two teams take to the diamond, that is among the purest — perhaps the game’s greatest single source of power production, with one of the most recognizable names on the back of his jersey and one of hottest on the front, launching a slider from New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole to straightaway center in a matchup of the AL East’s most-established institution and the darling Toronto Blue Jays.