By Canadian Press

Blue Jays complete sweep of Diamondbacks at home with 7-5 victory

Jul 16, 2023 | 4:48 PM

TORONTO — Insurance runs have been a calling card for the Toronto Blue Jays of late.

Danny Jansen’s three-run double in the eighth inning led the Blue Jays to a 7-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday and sweep of their three-game series. Toronto had four runs in the eighth after scoring two in the eighth with a 3-2 lead in Saturday’s win and five in the seventh of Friday’s win to break a 2-2 tie.

“I think that if you look at our team approach and stuff like that, you’ll probably find that we’re in advantage counts,” Jansen said. “It’s something that definitely trying to get focus of, getting into those 2-0 advantage counts and then go from there.

“I think it’s been a great job on everybody’s behalf, one through nine in the lineup, to be selective but be aggressive and kind of hone in on over the heart of the plate.”

Toronto manager John Schneider looked pleased when his team’s recent success with runners in scoring position was mentioned, considering its early-season difficulties.

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“No doubt,” Schneider said when asked if it was encouraging. “You look at (Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s) sac fly, right?

“Just like kind of a simple sac fly that gave us the lead and then really good at bat from Whit (Merrifield) and then you head to Jano and he hits a splitter in the gap. It’s just really good at bats.”

Santiago Espinal, Kevin Kiermaier, Guerrero, with the go-ahead play, and Daulton Varsho also drove in runs for Toronto (53-41), which has won four in a row and eight of its last nine.

“Had some momentum before the (all-star) break and then coming back from the break, it’s definitely satisfying to keep going with the momentum,” Jansen said. “It’s a good baseball club and we definitely clicked this series.”

Starter Yusei Kikuchi struck out four batters, walked three and surrendered two hits in 4 2/3 innings of action in front of a sellout crowd of 41,794 at Rogers Centre.

Relief pitcher Jay Jackson (2-0) picked up the win for the Blue Jays. Fellow relievers Tim Mayza, Trevor Richards, Yimi Garcia, Mitch White and Erik Swanson held on to close things out.

Ketel Marte had three RBIs late for Arizona (52-42), which dropped its fourth in a row.

Starter Tommy Henry (5-2) had five strikeouts, while surrendering seven hits and one walk in 4 1/3 innings. Kevin Ginkel, Miguel Castro, Scott McGough — who gave up all four earned runs after Henry’s exit — and Justin Martinez came on in relief.

“We’re not happy with what’s going on,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “We’re just not playing up to our capabilities. That’s the bottom line.”

“We shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times. We just didn’t execute on the mound. We gave up some more outs on the bases, and that’s not who we are. We’ve got to get back to doing our job.”

The Diamondbacks opened the scoring in the first. 

Kikuchi attempted to pick off former Jay Lourdes Gurriel Jr. at second base. However, he threw the ball into the outfield and Gurriel narrowly beat the throw home to score.

Arizona scored again in the second thanks to another mishap from Kikuchi. He threw a wild pitch that allowed Nick Ahmed to score from third.

But the Blue Jays got their bats going in the bottom of the inning. Espinal nailed a double into deep centre field to score Merrifield.

Kiermaier immediately followed with a single to centre field to score Espinal and tie the game 2-2.

The Blue Jays took their first lead in the fifth when Guerrero’s sacrifice fly against Ginkel brought Kiermaier home from third base.

Jansen hit a line drive to centre field off McGough with the bases loaded. Guerrero, Merrifield and Matt Chapman all reached home and McGough was pulled for Martinez the very next at bat.

Shortly after, pinch-hitter Varsho got in on the fun with a single to bring Jansen home.

After White walked three batters in the ninth and was pulled in favour of Swanson, Marte hit a double into right field to score Corbin Carroll, Geraldo Perdomo and McCarthy.

LONG TIME NO SEE

The last time Toronto and Arizona met in a series was in 2019, which the Diamondbacks swept at Rogers Centre. The Blue Jays’ only other sweep of Arizona was in a two-game set in July 2016.

ON DECK

Toronto has the day off Monday before beginning a three-game home series against the San Diego Padres on Tuesday.

Schneider said Alek Manoah (2-7) will get the start Tuesday. Joe Musgrove (8-2) is scheduled to start for the Padres.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 16, 2023.

Abdulhamid Ibrahim, The Canadian Press