Jose Berrios pitched into the eighth inning, Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered and the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the visiting Chicago White Sox 7-1 on Saturday afternoon.
Berrios (3-3) allowed one unearned run, two hits and three walks while striking out five in 7 2/3 innings.
Davis Schnieder had two hits and three RBIs and Nathan Lukes had two hits and an RBI as Toronto split the first two games of the three-game series.
Bichette homered to center on the first pitch of the game from Aaron Civale (1-4), a center-cut sinker.
Toronto extended the lead in the second. George Springer led off with a single. Ernie Clement singled to right and Austin Slater appeared to have a chance for an out at third but his throw was high, Civale was late to back up the play and Springer scored on the error. Schneider, Myles Straw and Nathan Lukes singled to bump the margin to 4-0.
Civale started pitching to the edges of the plate and retired eight in a row before Lukes singled with one out in the fifth followed by Alejandro Kirk’s two-out single.
Miguel Vargas picked up Chicago’s second hit of the game when he tripled to the right-field corner with one out in the sixth. Vargas scored with a smart slide when Guerrero’s errant throw home on Andrew Benintendi’s grounder to first took Kirk up the third-base line. Berrios induced a double play grounder from Luis Robert Jr. to end the inning.
Guerrero homered to left center on a slider that hung in the middle of the plate with two out in the seventh.
Civale completed seven innings, allowing five runs, nine hits and one walk while striking out two.
Berrios was replaced by Yariel Rodriguez after walking Ryan Noda with two outs in the eighth.
Chicago’s Jake Palisch made his major league debut in the eighth. He allowed two singles and Schneider’s two-run double.
Chad Green pitched a perfect ninth for the Blue Jays.
Toronto’s Addison Barger (hip discomfort) was a late scratch from the lineup.
— Field Level Media
