Guerrero's big day propels Blue Jays to win over Yankees
TORONTO (AP) — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered for the sixth time in eight games and finished with six RBIs, Alejandro Kirk had two hits and two RBIs and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the New York Yankees 9-3 on Saturday.
The Yankees, who won Friday to snap a season-worst four-game losing streak, lost for the 10th time in their past 13 games.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa had four hits and George Springer reached base three times as the Blue Jays won for the third time in four games since snapping a season-long seven-game losing streak.
“The biggest thing is that we’re having fun,” Guerrero said through a translator. “We’re going to continue that way and hopefully continue to get some more wins.”
The Blue Jays have scored at least five runs in a season-high six consecutive games.
Toronto’s Chris Bassitt (7-6) allowed one run and six hits in six innings to win for the first time since June 2 against Pittsburgh. The right-hander was struck on the forearm by a 102 mph line drive from Yankees slugger Aaron Judge in the first inning, but remained in the game despite a noticeable welt on his pitching arm.
“I knew I was fine to stay in the game right away,” Bassitt said. “I just wasn’t too sure about the inning after that, and the inning after that. Obviously things like that tighten up a little bit. We just did enough to get by.”
Bassitt had X-rays between the first and second innings, which did not reveal a fracture. After the X-rays, Bassitt put on a long-sleeve compression top beneath his jersey and wore it for the remainder of his outing.
Bassitt walked two and matched a season-high by striking out eight.
Guerrero hit a two-run home run off Nestor Cortes in the first inning, his 13th. He grounded out in the third and struck out in the fifth but added some insurance with a two-out, three-run double off left-hander Caleb Ferguson in Toronto’s five-run sixth.
“We had a hard time containing him,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of Guerrero.
Guerrero singled off Clay Holmes to drive in a run in the eighth. He set a Blue Jays record by driving in two or more runs for the sixth consecutive game. Guerrero has 19 RBIs in that stretch.
“He’s been really good for a few weeks now,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said.
Yankees outfielder Juan Soto was scratched from the lineup because of a bruised right hand about 20 minutes before Saturday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays, but Boone said afterward that X-rays did not reveal a fracture.
“He took some swings pregame and it just wasn’t good enough to go today,” Boone said. “Obviously a lot of treatment today and into the night. We’ll see what we have tomorrow.”
Oswaldo Cabrera replaced Soto in right field.
Cortes (4-7) lost his second straight start. He allowed three runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings.
“They put good swings on a lot of balls that I thought were pretty well located,” Cortes said.
New York’s Austin Wells hit a two-run homer in the ninth, his third.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Blue Jays: RHP Jordan Romano has been shut down because of pain in his injured right elbow. The two-time All-Star will visit Dr. Keith Meister in Texas on Tuesday. … Springer returned to the lineup. He left Friday’s game in the seventh inning after being hit on the left hand by a pitch.
UP NEXT
Yankees RHP Gerrit Cole (0-1, 9.00 ERA) is scheduled to make his third start of the season in Sunday’s series finale. RHP Kevin Gausman (6-6, 4.26) goes for the Blue Jays.
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