BALTIMORE – For all their firepower, the Blue Jays know they’re really clicking, really the best version of themselves, when Bo Bichette is right. So maybe it’s that simple. After searching for consistency much of the year, Bichette is raking again. And just like that, here come the Blue Jays in the American League Wild Card race.
Toronto made a loud statement Monday behind the white-hot Bichette, whose first career three-homer game powered the Blue Jays to their doubleheader sweep of the Orioles at Camden Yards. After Toronto took Game 1, 7-3, behind a strong Kevin Gausman start, Bichette cranked three homers in Game 2’s 8-4 rout as the Blue Jays stretched their lead over Baltimore for the third and final AL Wild Card spot to 4 1/2 games.
Bichette joined Vlad Guerrero Jr. to hit three homers in one game this season for the Blue Jays. They’re the fourth pair of teammates under the age of 25 with a three-homer game in the same season, joining Larry Parrish and Gary Carter with the 1977 Expos, Tommy Brown and Duke Snider with the 1950 Brooklyn Dodgers and Lou Gehrig and Tony Lazzeri with the 1927 Yankees.
Bichette pulled a three-run homer to left off Nick Vespi in the third, sprayed an opposite-field solo shot off Bruce Zimmermann in the sixth and spanked another solo shot off Zimmermann in the seventh. The 24-year-old is on his best tear of the season, hitting .400 (24-for-60) with 10 extra-base hits and 14 RBIs in his last 15 games.
Winners of five straight and seven of eight, the Blue Jays, too, seem to be clicking right at the right time. Monday, they took care of business behind Gausman in Game 1, and Bichette’s fireworks overshadowed José Berríos’ quality start in Game 2. For Toronto, it was Labor Day well spent as it earned a two-game bump in the standings over the course of seven-odd hours.