Bichette’s grand slam in the eighth inning catapults the Blue Jays to victory over the Red Sox | CBC Sports

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Caught in a slump for the first few weeks of the season, Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette made an adjustment to his hitting approach before Monday’s game against Boston.

The change paid immediate dividends.

Bichette hit a tiebreaking grand slam, the first of his career, in the eighth inning to lead Toronto to a 6-2 victory over the Red Sox at Rogers Centre.

“I’m trying to be a little more selective but aggressive at the same time in what I want,” Bichette said. “So I felt much better today.”

Bichette, who is hitting .219 this season, has been taking balls out of the strike zone lately.

Manager Charlie Montoyo said he could tell Bichette was recovering because he was starting to hit more to the right side, a good indicator that his swing is on track.

The Toronto shortstop converted a 1-0 pitch from reliever Tyler Danish for his second home run of the year, sending it just over the right-field wall.

“From experience, I never panic or anything for 60 or 70 at-bats or whatever, because people have records,” Montoyo said. “Everyone struggles and some people have slow starts, others have good starts. I knew it was going to be okay.”

“He made the adjustment today and it was good to see.”

Santiago Espinal, Bradley Zimmer and George Springer had reached base on one-out singles before Bichette’s first career grand slam.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Matt Chapman hit solo homers and starter José Berríos pitched more than seven innings for the Blue Jays (11-6), who outhit Boston 10-7.

The Red Sox (7-10) have lost five of their last six games.

“We’re just having bad luck, you know? We’re hitting the ball hard, it’s going right at people,” Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo said. “It seems that there are really no holes at the moment.”

Quality pitching and solid defense also helped the Blue Jays win for the fifth time in six games.

Berríos made a good defensive play to escape a bases-loaded jam in the second inning. He caught a comeback from Christian Arroyo and threw to the plate to start a 1-2-3 double play.

Springer made a standout catch to rob Kevin Plawecki of the extra bases in the fifth inning. Toronto’s center fielder chased down the line and made a diving grab just short of the warning track.

Gurriel led off the bottom half of the inning with his second home run of the year. Boston starter Nathan Eovaldi had retired 11 straight batters before Gurriel hit an 0-2 slider.

Chapman’s solo shot, his third home run of the season, came on a 1-2 cut in the seventh inning.

Berrios was retired by winger Adam Cimber (4-0) after allowing back-to-back singles in the eighth. Plawecki bunted runners ahead and Kike Hernandez drove in Bobby Dalbec with a single.

Arroyo tied the game when he scored on Verdugo’s sacrifice fly.

Berríos and Eovaldi, who pitched seven innings, had similar lines. Berríos allowed two earned runs, five hits and a walk while he struck out four. Eovaldi also allowed two earned runs and five hits, but did not walk and had five strikeouts.

Matt Strahm (1-1) took the loss. Julian Merryweather pitched the ninth inning for the Blue Jays.

The game took two hours and 16 minutes to play.




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