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Toronto Blue Jays Closer Enters Historic Group in First Season with Team

Jeff Hoffman has been a key member of the team's bullpen, providing the Blue Jays what they hoped for when they signed him this past offseason.
Brady Farkas|
Toronto Blue Jays relief pitcher Jeff Hoffman (23) delivers a pitch against the New York Yankees in the ninth inning at Rogers Centre on July 22.
Toronto Blue Jays relief pitcher Jeff Hoffman (23) delivers a pitch against the New York Yankees in the ninth inning at Rogers Centre on July 22. | Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images

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Toronto Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles 9-8 on Wednesday afternoon at Camden Yards, salvaging the fourth game of a four-game series.

Toronto scored five runs in the top of the seventh inning to help fuel the victory and Jeff Hoffman locked down his 25th save of the season.

With that save, he lowered his season ERA to 4.76. Signed this past offseason to help anchor a woeful Toronto bullpen, he's entered some special team history, according to @StatsCentre:

25+ saves recorded by a pitcher in their 1st season playing with the @BlueJays franchise:
38- B.J. Ryan (2006)
37- Kevin Gregg (2010)
31- Billy Koch (1999)
28- Randy Myers (1998)
25- Jeff Hoffman (2025 via pulling off a 1-2-3 ninth inning in today's 9-8 victory over the Orioles)

A 32-year-old veteran of 10 major league seasons with the Colorado Rockies, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies and Blue Jays, he's gone 29-30 lifetime with a 4.81 ERA. However, he's become an excellent reliever since making the full-time switch in the 2022 season. He helped the Phillies to a National League East crown in 2024.

Toronto is now 64-46 on the season and they lead the American League East. They've already acquired former Cy Young winner Shane Bieber at the trade deadline and reliever Seranthony Dominguez and could have more moves up their sleeves by the time Thursday's trade deadline concludes.

Toronto will resume play on Friday night when they play the Kansas City Royals at Rogers Centre. First pitch is set for 7:07 p.m. ET. The Jays haven't announced a starter yet.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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