Good things came in threes for the Toronto Blue Jays in their latest win at Sahlen Field.
Bo Bichette and Marcus Semien clubbed three-run homers in consecutive innings Tuesday, and Semien had three hits as the Jays erupted for a 9-3 win over the Seattle Mariners.
Guerrero, 22, finished first among all players with 2,704,788 total votes, becoming the youngest player in MLB history to lead in a balloting segment.
A crowd of 6,736 saw the opener of a three-game series as the Blue Jays (41-36) improved to 4-1 on the homestand. They are 8-1 in their last nine games overall.
Robbie Ray (6-3) struck out 10 in six innings and was the beneficiary of the offense, even though he gave up a three-run homer to Seattle first baseman Ty France with one out in the sixth that wiped out a 3-0 lead and got the Mariners even.
The Blue Jays got back to work in the bottom of the inning. Bichette drove the second pitch he saw from reliever Rafael Montero to deep left-center for his 15th homer of the season to put the Jays back in front 6-3. The top four in the Toronto lineup combined for nine hits and Bichette said there was a feeling more hits and runs were coming in the late innings Tuesday.
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"It just allows everybody to know that no matter what's going on, we have a chance to win," Bichette said. "We go out to compete to the last out and we obviously did a good job today responding."
In the seventh, Semien drove a two-out pitch from Will Vest deep to left and it careened high off the foul pole for another three-run shot. Semien opened the scoring with a two-run double in the second for a five-RBI night.
"We've got guys all up and down our lineup that can produce on a nightly basis," Ray said. "It's really fun to watch these guys get into the box and take those swings."
The Blue Jays finished with 15 hits in the game. They have four players with 50+ RBIs prior to July 1 for the first time in their history as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has 66, Bichette is at 53, Randal Grichuk is at 52 and Semien hit 50.
Ray's 10 strikeouts gave him 113 for the season and allowed him to equal Roger Clemens' 1997 mark for the most over the first 15 starts of a season by a Toronto pitcher.
Seattle catcher Tom Murphy, the former University at Buffalo star, was 2 for 3 with a walk and was one of three Mariners with two hits.
Toronto Blue Jays second baseman Marcus Semien hits a two-run double in the second inning.
Jays add Cimber to pen
The Blue Jays added an interesting piece to their bullpen and got more outfield depth Tuesday, acquiring sidearming right-hander Adam Cimber and outfielder Corey Dickerson from the Miami Marlins in exchange for infielder Joe Panik and Double-A pitcher Andrew McInvale.
Sidearm right-hander Adam Cimber is 1-2 with a 2.88 earned-run average in 33 games for the Marlins.
The Jays have been looking to bolster their bullpen in the wake of injuries that have produced a bevy of late-game struggles this season. Cimber, a 30-year-old right-hander, is 1-2 with a 2.88 earned-run average in 33 games for the Marlins.
Cimber has pitched 185 career games, all in relief, with Miami, Cleveland and San Diego. The Blue Jays are hoping Cimber will be available for Wednesday's game. He arrived and threw in the outfield late Tuesday night.
"For sure he's going to help our bullpen a lot and what he does is give us a different look," manager Charlie Montoyo said before the game. "So I'm really looking forward to adding him to the group. And just like everybody else, he's going to get a chance to pitch in high-leverage spots."
It's gonna be fun to watch this guy pitch!He has a knack for inducing weak contact, and I love him as an option against guys like Judge, Stanton, Sanchez, Bogaerts, Arozarena, etc... pic.twitter.com/zLadPQcPWP
— Chris Black (@DownToBlack) June 29, 2021
Dickerson, a former 27-homer man for Tampa Bay in 2017, has not played since June 13 and is out at least a couple more weeks with a foot contusion. He has been placed on the Injured List.
"He's a gamer. He's gonna give us a left handed bat off the bench, can play left (field) and he's going to be a good addition," said Montoyo, Tampa's third-base coach in '17. "We've got a right-handed lineup and if you add him into the lineup with a left-handed bat like that, it's going to help us a lot.
Panik was batting .246 with two homers and 11 RBIs in 42 games this season. The play of Santiago Espinal, both at the plate and in the field, made Panik expendable.
Mariners pitcher appealing 10-game ban
Seattle pitcher Hector Santiago was hit with a 10-game suspension Tuesday after he was ejected Sunday as the first MLB pitcher snagged by the crackdown on using illegal substances on the baseball. Santiago is appealing, so he is eligible to pitch in this series.
"It was rosin and rosin is behind the pitcher's mound, so it's not foreign. It's not a foreign substance," Mariners manager Scott Servais insisted here Tuesday. "So I am surprised to some degree. But I understand what Major League Baseball is trying to do. They're trying to create a level playing field and understand why they decided to do this in the middle of the season."
Game on the (You)Tube
Wednesday night's game here is an MLB YouTube game of the Week exclusive and will not be available on MLB.com or the Extra Innings package.
MLB Network insider Jon Paul Morosi will be reporting in the ballpark, and the play-by-play will be done from MLB Network studios in Secaucus, N.J., with a StatCast bent from Brian Kenny, Mark DeRosa, Ryan Rowland-Smith and Sarah Langs.
Steven Matz (7-3) comes off the Covid-19 IL to pitch for the Blue Jays against Seattle's Justus Sheffield (5-7).
