Both Jeremy Peña and Yordan Alvarez homered on a five-run, sixth-inning drive to lead the Houston Astros (11-9) to an 11-7 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday.
Starter Jose Urquidy (2-1) allowed four runs on seven hits and one walk, but also struck out six in five innings. Bryan Abreu, Phil Maton, Ryne Stanek and Héctor Neris came out of the bullpen for the Astros.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. led the Blue Jays (13-8) with a three-run homer and Matt Chapman’s two-run long ball kept the home team in the game.
Yusei Kikuchi (0-1) pitched two and two-thirds innings, striking out four batters, but allowing four earned runs on four hits and three walks in a no-decision game.
Bregman hit Kikuchi early, hitting a long ball into the Blue Jays bullpen in a two-ball, two-strike situation in the opening inning. Bregman captured the attention of the 35,066 people in attendance at the Rogers Center, with the crowd booing at each of his home plate appearances.
Raimel Tapia equalized for Toronto in the second set with a double that pushed Chapman to the plate from the first.
Alvarez restored Houston’s lead in third with a single that produced a run pushing Peña home and advancing Bregman to third base. Yuli Gurriel followed up with a double to left field to score Bregman and a sacrifice fly from Kyle Tucker then allowed Alvarez to complete his lap of the trails.
This ended Kikuchi’s party. Trent Thornton, Tayler Saucedo, Trevor Richards, Julian Merryweather, David Phelps and Andrew Vasquez pitched in relief for the Jays. Thornton suffered the loss as Richards allowed five runs in his inning and a working third.
Elsewhere in the American:
Twins 1 – Rays 6
MIN: Carlos Correa drove in his lone run with a single in the fourth
TB: Josh Lowe hit a three-run homer in the first inning
Red Sox 3 – Orioles 1
BOS: Christian Arroyo hit a two-run homer in the second inning
BAL: Ryan Mount castle hit a solo homer for the honor in the ninth inning
Angels 5 – White Sox 1
LAA: Taylor Ward and Shohein Ohtani hit solo home runs in the first inning
CHW: Lucas Giolito struck out 7, but allowed three earned runs on seven hits
Braves 6 – Rangers 3
ATL: Willson Contreras hit two homers
TEX: Corey Seager and Adolis Garcian hit solo home runs
Yankees 12 – Royals 2
NYY: Anthony Rizzo, Giancarlo Statnon, Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres hit the long ball
KC: Salvador Pérez drove in a run with a double
Guardians 9 – Athletics 8
CLE: José Ramirez drove in three runs including a solo homer
OAK: Sean Murphy hit a three-run homer
Phillies 0 – Mets 3 (Match without run or hit)
