Watch: Pillar's 1st career walk-off HR lifts Blue Jays to sweep
"This one's for Mom" - @KPILLAR4, probably. #Walkoff pic.twitter.com/nVbcDFrCFo
— Blue Jays (@BlueJays) May 14, 2017
Turns out Superman does more than just fly around Rogers Centre's outfield.
Kevin Pillar, the Toronto Blue Jays' (formerly) light-hitting center fielder whose value was once defined almost solely by his defense, has suddenly morphed into a feared leadoff hitter early this season. On Sunday, the 28-year-old not only kept his personal red-hot start to 2017 going, but he propped up the Blue Jays' win streak as well by taking Seattle Mariners closer Edwin Diaz some 412 feet to left field for his first career walk-off homer.
Pillar is now hitting .314/.369/.497 on the season with an American League-leading 48 hits and - somewhat incredibly, given his free-swinging tendencies of old - 13 walks through his first 38 games of 2017.
The Blue Jays' 3-2 victory over Seattle extended their current win streak to five games, and gave the Canadian club a four-game sweep over their lowly expansion cousins. After finishing April as one of the worst teams in baseball, the Blue Jays have looked like a different team in May; they're now 9-4 since the calendar turned.