(Toronto) Bo Bichette homered and two RBI singles to help the Toronto Blue Jays sweep the Chicago White Sox with an 8-0 victory.
Whit Merrifield extended his streak to 19 with a hit in the fourth and a two-run single in the seventh in the Jays’ fourth straight win (16-9), including last three at the expense of the White Sox.
Merrifield has now hit the trails in every one of his games this season.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. drove in two runs with a double in the third and Santiago Espinal added a single good for a run an inning later.
Yusei Kikuchi (4-0) had a great outing, striking out eight batters and limiting the White Sox to four hits and one walk in five and two-thirds innings. Relievers Erik Swanson, Yimi Garcia and Trevor Richards saved the win.
Michael Kopech (0-3) suffered the loss allowing four runs on six hits and two walks in five innings. He struck out four Jays in the seventh straight loss to the White Sox (7-18).
Kikuchi struck out the first two batters to face him before taking advantage of the boldness of Luis Robert Jr., who tried to stretch a batted single to the right field fence in doubles. Right fielder George Springer instead pinned him with a snappy and precise throw to Bichette.
The latter opened the scoring in the third by pushing Espinal to the plate with a solid single on the right. Springer went to third on the play. Guerrero followed with a double down the line from first to make it 3-0.
Bichette added his fifth homer of the season down the line to left field in seventh, a solo slap, much to the delight of the 35,069 spectators at Rogers Centre.
The Jays, however, may have lost the services of Springer, who was taken out of the game in the next inning with a bruised right hand. The first tests, however, were negative.
