TORONTO — Primariliy known for his stellar offensive skills, Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr., showed Wednesday night that his defensive game is on point too.
Guerrero drove in Bo Bichette with the go-ahead run in the third inning and preserved Toronto’s 2-1 victory with a game-ending play at first base as the Blue Jays ended the New York Yankees’ 11-game win streak.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, third baseman Matt Chapman had to back up to gather a chopper from Isiah Kiner-Fanela and was forced to rush the throw to Guerrero.
The Toronto first baseman stretched and one-hopped the ball as it skidded off the turf, celebrating the out with a couple of emphatic fist pumps while seated in the dirt.
“I was very mad at myself and then very excited,” Chapman said.
Starter Yusei Kikuchi threw a season-high six innings for his first win as a Blue Jay and Jordan Romano earned his MLB-best 12th save to help Toronto salvage the finale of the three-game series.
“When you’re not hitting and there’s no room for error, you’ve just got to make a lot of plays,” said Toronto manager Charlie Montoyo.
Joey Gallo hit a solo shot for New York’s lone run. It was the Yankees’ second loss in their last 15 games.
New York, which leads the major leagues at 18-7, had its divisional lead on the second-place Blue Jays trimmed to 2 1/2 games.
The Blue Jays (16-10) have won 10 of their last 15 games and earned their 10th one-run victory of the season.
“They’re really good,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone. “They obviously have a lot of good position players and they can pitch too.”
Chapman opened the scoring with his fifth home run of the season. The blast to straightaway centre field came off left-hander Nestor Cortes (1-1).
Gallo answered with a solo shot off Kikuchi (1-1) in the third inning for his third homer of the year.
Kikuchi allowed three hits and a walk with seven strikeouts in his first quality start of the year. He induced a season-high 15 swing and misses.
“He’s got good stuff,” Montoyo said. “If he throws strikes, he’s going to get people out.”
The Yankees threatened in the seventh inning after Toronto reliever David Phelps issued back-to-back one-out walks. Left-hander Tim Mayza came on and struck out Gallo before getting Kiner-Falefa on a groundout.
Yimi Garcia worked a perfect eighth inning, fanning slugger Aaron Judge for the third out. Boone was ejected before the strikeout was completed, apparently for arguing balls and strikes.
“I was pretty mad out there,” Boone said. “Hopefully not a suspension or anything. I kept it in control somewhat.”
Romano, from Markham, Ont., gave up a pair of hits and issued a two-out walk to Gallo to load the bases. The Yankees challenged the call on the third out but the decision was upheld.
Announced attendance at Rogers Centre was 29,057 and the game took two hours 42 minutes to play.
ROSTER MOVES
Before the game, the Blue Jays selected right-hander Casey Lawrence to the big-league roster. He was 3-1 with a 2.82 earned-run average over four starts with triple-A Buffalo this year.
The team also optioned left-hander Andrew Vasquez to the Bisons and designated infielder Gosuke Katoh for assignment.
ROAD TRIP
The Blue Jays will hit the road after closing out the 10-game homestand with a 6-4 record.
Right-hander Jose Berrios (2-0, 4.13 ERA) is scheduled to start the opener of a four-game series at Cleveland on Thursday against Aaron Cival (0-2, 10.67). Toronto’s nine-game road swing will include stops in New York and Tampa Bay.
The Yankees have an off-day Thursday before kicking off a three-game series against the visiting Texas Rangers on Friday.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 4, 2022.
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Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press
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