(Toronto) It took Bo Bichette 40 games to hit five home runs last season. He’s only had 24 this season.
Bichette homered and two singles runs to help the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Chicago White Sox 8-0. Those three hits brought Bichette’s batting average to . 340.
“I take it one day at a time, I would even say one pitch at a time,” he said. I’m just looking to make the necessary adjustments and polish my game, but at the same time I don’t care too much about circuits. »
Whit Merrifield extended his streak to 19 with a hit in the fourth and a two-run single in the seventh for the Jays’ fourth straight victory (16-9), including the last three at the expense of the White Sox.
Merrifield has now hit the trails in all of its games this season.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. drove in two runs with a double in the third and Santiago Espinal added a single comeback for a run an innings later.
“I think we’re playing well,” Bichette added. In this particular series everything worked well: the offense, the defense, the pitchers. When everything goes well in this way, it cannot fail to produce good results. »
Yusei Kikuchi (4-0) had a hot run, striking out eight batters and limiting the White Sox to four hits and a walk in five innings and two-thirds. Relievers Erik Swanson, Yimi Garcia and Trevor Richards saved the win.
The Jays’ starters haven’t given up more than two runs in their last eight games.
“The five of us have developed good bonds together, we often eat together,” explained Kikuchi through translator Yusuke Oshima. Even in the enclosure, we give each other advice. It’s good to see that we’re having so much success. »
Michael Kopech (0-3) took the loss, allowing four runs on six hits and two walks in five innings. He struck out four Jays in their seventh straight loss to the White Sox (7-18).
Kikuchi struck out the first two batters facing him before taking advantage of the nerve of Luis Robert Jr., who tried to stretch a single to the right field fence into doubles. Instead, right fielder George Springer pinned him with a clean, accurate throw to Bichette.
This opened the scoring in the third when pushing Espinal to the base with a right kick on the right. Springer moved to third on the play, Guerrero followed with a one-two on the line from first to make it 3-0.
Bichette added his fifth home run of the season from the line to left in the seventh, a solo slap, to the delight of the 35,069 spectators at the Rogers Centre.
The Jays, however, may have lost the services of Springer, who was pulled from the game the next inning with a bruised right hand. The first tests, however, were negative.
“Our day off [de jeudi] timely,” noted manager John Schneider.
