They met two years ago in Buffalo. Rowdy Tellez played for the Bisons then, signing autographs after a game. After he signed for Emmett Cooper, a 4-year-old from Hamilton, Ont., he thought the kid might appreciate a bat, so he handed over one he’d broken in the game.



“I’ll give it to you on one condition,” the big first baseman said. “You have to promise to tell your mom that you love her every day.”



The bargain was struck and a friendship was born. Over the next two years, it grew, bonded by hope born in tragedy.



On Wednesday afternoon, Emmett and his parents, Tyler and Cathy, hung out with Tellez in the Blue Jays’ dugout. Tellez has to hit a home run, Emmett said, as though it was a given.



Tellez hit two. They were the 20th and 21st of his rookie season, and they proved decisive in Toronto’s 3-2 win over Baltimore.



But it was more than a storybook tale of a slugger fulfilling a kid’s...