By Canadian Press

Jays hit three homers and Berrios has career-high 13 strikeouts in 12-3 rout of Twins

Jun 4, 2022 | 4:25 PM

TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays hit three home runs and starter Jose Berrios had a career-high 13 strikeouts in a 12-3 rout of the Minnesota Twins on Saturday afternoon at Rogers Centre.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette and Alejandro Kirk went deep for the Blue Jays, who won for the ninth time in 10 games. 

Teoscar Hernandez and Lourdes Gurriel Jr., had three hits apiece for Toronto (31-21). Bichette, Kirk, Santiago Espinal and Cavan Biggio chipped in with two hits apiece.

Berrios (4-2) gave up a two-run homer to Jorge Polanco in the first inning and a leadoff double to Nick Gordon in the second. The Twins (31-24) didn’t get another hit off the Toronto starter, who walked a pair over his seven-inning appearance.

Toronto got on the board in the first inning when Bichette hit a no-doubt solo shot off Dylan Bundy (3-3) into the second deck. It was his eighth homer of the year. 

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The Blue Jays took the lead with a three-run second inning. Biggio doubled to score Kirk, who led off with a single and moved to second on a Gurriel walk.

George Springer was jammed with an inside pitch but made enough contact for the ball to roll down the third-base line like a bunt. That brought Gurriel home and Biggio later scored when shortstop Jermaine Palacios booted a routine chopper.

The Toronto offence kept at it in the third as Hernandez led off with a triple. Kirk followed with his fourth homer of the year.

Bundy allowed eight hits, five earned runs and a walk with one strikeout over 2 1/3 innings. 

Guerrero curled a two-run shot inside the left-field foul screen in the fourth inning for his team-leading 12th homer of the season. The Blue Jays made it a blowout with a three-run eighth inning.

Toronto outhit Minnesota 16-6. The Blue Jays have won 13 of their last 17 games.

Right-handers Julian Merryweather and Trent Thornton worked one frame apiece for Toronto. Announced attendance was 36,987 and the game took three hours one minute to play.

GOOD MEMORIES

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli homered in his first career game as a player at Rogers Centre in 2003. He hit a solo shot off Trever Miller while playing for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. 

Baldelli, who’s in his fourth season as Twins manager, hit safely in each of his first 11 games at Rogers Centre.

SERIES FINALE

Toronto will close out its six-game homestand Sunday afternoon. Right-hander Kevin Gausman (5-3, 2.51) is scheduled to start against Minnesota southpaw Devin Smeltzer (2-0, 1.50).

The Blue Jays will head out for a six-game road trip next week that will include stops in Kansas City and Detroit. The Twins will return home for a six-game homestand against the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2022. 

Follow @GregoryStrongCP on Twitter.

Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press