Toronto Blue Jays designated hitter Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (27) hits a two-run home run against the San Francisco Giants during sixth inning MLB Interleague baseball action in Toronto on Thursday, June 29, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
TORONTO – Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a two-run homer and Toronto starter Chris Bassitt had a career-high 12 strikeouts as the Blue Jays edged the San Francisco Giants 2-1 on Thursday night.
With Brandon Belt aboard after a two-out walk in the sixth inning, Guerrero turned on a 2-2 splitter from Giants starter Keaton Winn for his 12th homer of the season.
Bassitt allowed three hits and three walks over his six-inning appearance. Erik Swanson, Tim Mayza and Jordan Romano threw an inning apiece in relief.
Romano, from Markham, Ont., gave up a leadoff double to Patrick Bailey and RBI single to Blake Sabol before nailing down his 24th save.
Toronto (45-37) has won six of its last eight games. The Giants (45-36) have dropped two straight after winning 10 road games in a row.
Winn was making his first career start but didn’t show any nerves. He gave up just one hit through the first four innings.
The Rogers Centre crowd of 27,761 let out a roar in the third when J.D. Davis was tossed by umpire John Tumpane for arguing a called strike.
Manager Gabe Kapler left the bench to voice his thoughts and was ejected as well.
The interaction continued in the fourth when Tumpane interrupted an at-bat to walk over to the San Francisco dugout. He exchanged words briefly with bench coach Kai Correa.
Guerrero threw his bat to the turf in the bottom half of the frame after Winn (0-1) hit him with a pitch. The ball appeared to get him in the rib area but the Blue Jays slugger stayed in the game.
Toronto nearly got something going in the fifth inning but Joc Pederson cut off Santiago Espinal’s liner with a diving catch by the warning track.
Bassitt, who changed his routine to allow catcher Alejandro Kirk to call the game, used his extensive pitch repertoire to his advantage.
The Giants had some chances but couldn’t deliver the clutch hit they were looking for. Bassitt struck out the side in the sixth inning to bring his pitch count to 104.
In the ninth, Espinal made a brilliant one-hop tag when Sabol tried to steal second.
Toronto looked to have the game in hand but third baseman Matt Chapman made a throwing error that gave the Giants another chance. Romano got Brandon Crawford on a flyout to end it.
The retractable roof was open under blue skies but some lingering wildfire smoke hung in the air. The game took two hours 15 minutes to play.
VLAD DERBY
Before the game, the Blue Jays announced that Guerrero will participate in the home-run derby next month in Seattle.
The July 10 exhibition will be held at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park. Guerrero also competed in the derby in his rookie season in 2019.
KIRK RETURN
Kirk was reinstated from the 10-day injured list (left hand laceration) earlier in the day. He batted eighth in the lineup.
Catcher Tyler Heineman was optioned to Triple-A Buffalo.
COMING UP
The Blue Jays will wrap up their nine-game homestand with a weekend series starting Friday night against the Boston Red Sox.
Right-hander Jose Berrios (8-5, 3.60 earned-run average) was scheduled to start the opener against Boston left-hander James Paxton (3-1, 3.19), a native of Ladner, B.C.
—
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 29, 2023.
Follow @GregoryStrongCP on Twitter.
