By Canadian Press

Guerrero Jr. goes deep twice as Blue Jays earn third straight win

Aug 30, 2021 | 8:48 PM

TORONTO — Lefty Robbie Ray struck out 10, and slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. slammed two homers to push the Blue Jays to a third straight victory on Monday.

Toronto (69-61) scored a 7-3 win with three runs apiece in sixth and seventh innings against the lowly Baltimore Orioles (40-90) before 14,406 at Rogers Centre.

Ray (10-5) won for the first time since July 28. He was the victim of five consecutive no-decisions, including a brilliant 14-strikeout effort against the Chicago White Sox in his last outing.

Against the Orioles, Ray lasted seven innings. He gave up two runs on four hits and a walk.

Guerrero tied the game at 1-1 with a lead-off blast to the second deck in left field in the fourth inning and put the game out of reach in the seventh with a two-out, three-run shot to left.

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The Orioles sport the worst record in Major League Baseball this season. But they pulled ahead for the second time with a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning.

Ray yielded a lead-off walk to Kelvin Gutierrez. The Baltimore third baseman advanced to third on Austin Hays single to left centre and scored on rookie Ryan Mountcastle’s infield hit to Toronto shortstop Bo Bichette.

Mountcastle put the Orioles in front 1-0 with a one-out first-inning blast to left-centre for his 25th in 2021.

Out with a sprained left knee since Aug. 14, George Springer led off the sixth with a single to right. The designated hitter advanced to second after Marcus Semien walked and scored on Bichette’s punch single past Baltimore second baseman Jorge Mateo.

Teoscar Hernandez knocked in two more runs in the sixth with a double to left. Toronto third base coach Luis Rivera put the stop sign on Bichette, but the shortstop kept on truckin’ to score his team’s fourth run of the game.

Springer missed a significant part of the first half with quad and oblique ailments. He has been limited to 50 games this summer when you add his recent stint on the injured list with knee troubles.

But with Springer in the lineup, the Blue Jays have gone 30-20.

Kevin Smith and Springer walked to set up Guerrero for his second homer. It was the big first baseman’s 38th of the year, but only the fourth homer in 28 games in August.

Baltimore starter Chris Ellis was perfect until a two-out walk to Toronto newcomer Jarrod Dyson in the third inning. Ellis then hit Springer in the left arm.

A double steal put runners on second and third, but Semien hit a long fly ball to centre to end the inning.

A Mountcastle walk and singles from Anthony Santander and Pedro Severino produced a final run for the Orioles off Toronto reliever Trent Thornton in the ninth inning. Stopper Jordan Romano had to be called in for the final two outs.

The Blue Jays improved to 13-6 since their Rogers Centre return on July 30.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published August 30, 2021.

Tim Wharnsby, The Canadian Press