Blue Jays hit 3 homers, Berrios has career-high 13 strikeouts in rout of Twins
Guerrero, Bichette, Kirk go deep in 12-3 victory as Toronto claims 9th win in 10 games
Blue Jays right-hander Jose Berrios had a dead arm in a forgettable start last weekend in Anaheim. It was certainly back to life on Saturday afternoon at Rogers Centre.
Berrios had a career-high 13 strikeouts against his former team as the Blue Jays pasted the Minnesota Twins 12-3.
The lone hiccup for Berrios (4-2) came in the first inning when he gave up a two-run homer to Jorge Polanco. Nick Gordon led off the second inning with a double and Berrios didn't allow another hit over his seven-inning appearance.
"I think this was the best Jose Berrios probably pitched in 2022," said Twins manager Rocco Baldelli. "I'm not surprised to see it against us."
In addition to the return of his usual velocity, Berrios — who spent parts of his first six big-league seasons with Minnesota — had his slider in peak form. Montoyo said the pitch was "like a Frisbee."
Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette and Alejandro Kirk homered for the Blue Jays (31-21), who won for the ninth time in 10 games.
Teoscar Hernandez and Lourdes Gurriel Jr., each had three hits while Bichette, Kirk, Santiago Espinal and Cavan Biggio chipped in with two hits apiece.
Toronto got on the board in the first inning when Bichette hit a no-doubt solo shot off Dylan Bundy (3-3) into the second deck. It was his eighth homer of the year.
The Greatest FLOWman 🤩 <a href="https://t.co/UIGJrmlHSN">pic.twitter.com/UIGJrmlHSN</a>
—@BlueJaysThe Blue Jays took the lead with a three-run second inning. Biggio doubled to score Kirk, who led off with a single and moved to second on a Gurriel walk.
George Springer was jammed with an inside pitch but made enough contact for the ball to roll down the third-base line like a bunt. That brought Gurriel home and Biggio later scored when shortstop Jermaine Palacios booted a routine chopper.
The Toronto offence kept at it in the third as Hernandez led off with a triple. Kirk followed with his fourth homer of the year.
Beam us up, Kirky 🚀 <a href="https://twitter.com/alejandro_kirk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@alejandro_kirk</a> <a href="https://t.co/ujeSuSgdrh">pic.twitter.com/ujeSuSgdrh</a>
—@BlueJaysBundy allowed eight hits, five earned runs and a walk with one strikeout over 2 1/3 innings.
Guerrero curled a two-run shot inside the left-field foul screen in the fourth inning for his team-leading 12th homer of the season. The Blue Jays made it a blowout with a three-run eighth.
Vlad day to be a baseball 😳 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PLAKATA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PLAKATA</a> 💥 <a href="https://t.co/eE4ZOYXXcv">pic.twitter.com/eE4ZOYXXcv</a>
—@BlueJaysToronto outhit Minnesota 16-6. The Blue Jays have won 13 of their last 17 games while the Twins (31-24) have dropped four of five.
Right-handers Julian Merryweather and Trent Thornton worked one frame apiece for Toronto. Announced attendance was 36,987 and the game took three hours one minute to play.
