Belt, Guerrero Jr. home runs help Blue Jays bruise Yankees in the Bronx
Toronto sluggers combine for all 6 runs; Kikuchi (3-0) improves ERA to 1.91
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. put Toronto ahead in the first inning with his 11th home run in the Bronx and Brandon Belt drove in four runs to lead the Blue Jays over the New York Yankees 6-1 Friday night.
"Just being able to attack the hitters and just keeping that mentality I think has been big for me," Kikuchi said through a translator.
Wearing powder blue uniforms, Toronto went ahead against Domingo German (1-2) when George Springer doubled on the game's first pitch and two batters later Guerrero hit a drive into the visitors bullpen in left-centre for his fourth home run this season. Guerrero is batting .296 (37 for 125) in 32 games at Yankee Stadium.
"Since you are a little kid, you dream of playing at Yankee Stadium," the 24-year-old son of Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero said through a translator before the game. "Yankee Stadium is always a stadium you want to go to, you want to perform, you want to hit. That's the mentality all the time when I come here."
A Swing and a... BELT 😏 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NextLevel?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NextLevel</a> <a href="https://t.co/6fX7mSRixf">pic.twitter.com/6fX7mSRixf</a>
—@BlueJays
Belt hit a two-run homer in the sixth and a two-run double against Albert Abreu in the eighth, a ball off the arm of a lunging Aaron Judge in right. Belt had gone 38 games without a home run since July 17 for San Francisco off Milwaukee's Jason Alexander.
Oswaldo Cabrera hit his first home run of the season, an opposite-field drive to right in the second. The Yankees didn't get another runner past first base.
New York has lost five straight series openers after winning its first two. The Yankees entered the three-game weekend series with five series wins and one split.
German gave up four runs, five hits and two walks in six innings, retiring 12 in a row at one point and striking out six. In his previous outing, umpires found he had excessive sticky substance on his pitching hand but allowed him to clean his hand and remain in the game.