With his double in the bottom eighth inning on Saturday night, Ernie Clement etched his name into the Major League Baseball record books.
The line-drive into the left-field gap was Clement’s 30th hit of the post-season, the most by a player in MLB history.
Randy Arozarena set the previous record of 29 in 2020. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has 28 hits during the Blue Jays’ playoff run.
Clement also put his his name in the Blue Jays’ playoff record book with his single in the the second inning.
The knock extended Clement’s post-season hit streak to 13 games, surpassing Pat Borders for the longest mark in a single playoff run in franchise history. It also gave Clement the record for most singles in a single post-season.
The streak dates back to Game 2 of the ALCS against the Seattle Mariners.
Clement entered Game 7 of the World Series slashing .353/.358/.471 with 18 hits and five extra-base hits over the course of his streak.
He has only been held without a hit in Game 1 of the ALDS against the New York Yankees and in Game 1 against Seattle.
Borders completed his 12-game streak in the 1992 post-season, winning the World Series MVP during the Blue Jays’ run to the first title in franchise history.
The overall MLB playoff hit streak record belongs to Ketel Marte, who went 16 straight games with a hit during the 2023 post-season with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
If that wasn’t enough, Clement went and tied the MLB record for hits in a single post-season with his 29th of the playoffs in the bottom of the sixth inning. He now shares the record with Randy Arozarena in 2020.
Clement would then come in to score on an Andres Gimenez double to give the Blue Jays a 4-2 lead.
Clement wasn’t the only Blue Jay to set a record on Saturday, as reliever Louis Varland got in on the action in the fifth inning.
Varland came in for his 15th relief stint in the post-season and broke the MLB record for most playoff appearances.
He broke a record shared by Brandon Morrow (2017, Dodgers) and Paul Assenmacher (1997, Cleveland), who both helped their teams reach the World Series.
The Blue Jays acquired Varland from the Minnesota Twins at the trade deadline, alongside infielder Ty France, for outfielder Alan Roden and pitching prospect Kendry Rojas.
In 23.2 regular-season innings with Toronto, the 27-year-old right-hander carried a 4.94 ERA and struck out 28.
