TORONTO: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. he surpassed his father in the Hall of Fame and advanced to Shohei Ohtani.
Guerrero reached his 45th major league day of the league, Alek Manoah reached the top run by throwing eight shutouts and the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 8-1 on Monday night.
Teoscar Hernandez had his first game of five hits in the race and Bo Bichette added a solo home run, his 24th, as the growing Blue Jays improved to 12-1 in September.
“Tonight, in every facet of the game, the Blue Jays have dominated us,” Rays center-back Kevin Kiermaier said.
The leading AL Eastern Radios lost for the fourth time in five games and are 5-7 this month after having gone 21-6 in August.
“We hate losing games, make no mistake,” Kiermaier said, “but no one hangs their head or bends their shoulders after the last four or five days.”
Facing left-hander Adam Conley in the sixth, Guerrero lined up a 3-1 throw down the left field line, breaking the tie with Ohtani, the Angels’ two-way star, for most homers. of the big leagues.
He became the main leader of the national race for the first time since June 27 and for the fifteenth day of this season. Ohtani has led MLB straight to his home at the end of 79 days this season.
Guerrero’s championship had a pitching angle of 15.4 degrees, the third lowest pitching angle in any local race this season in the major leagues.
“I think third baseman jumped,” said Charlie Montoyo, manager of the Blue Jays. “I thought I was going to touch the wall; there was no way out. When he came out, I said, ‘Oh my God.’ Few people can do that.”
With his homer, Guerrero also eclipsed the maximum of the season set by his father with Montreal in 2000. Driving out of the bat at 113.9 mph and projected at 356 feet.
Toronto leads the standings with 232 homers this year.
Twenty-eight of Guerrero’s 45 homers have reached home games, most in the majors this season (Ohtani is second with 25) and tied with George Bell in 1987 for the third most in Blue history. Jays.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. he had three hits and two RBIs, and Breyvic Valera added three hits and drove in three runs while the Blue Jays held their position on top of the crowded AL wildcard chase. Toronto started the day tied with Boston, but the Blue Jays have played two games less than the Red Sox.
“We know what’s at stake, we know what we’re playing for,” Manoah said. “Huge series right here, we have to get as many as we can and move on.”
With 17 hits in total, it was another offensive outburst from the Blue Jays, who scored 22 runs against Baltimore on Sunday. That came a day after Toronto got 22 runs in a double header against the Orioles.
“After the third or fourth inning, the game was basically over,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said.
Making intense use of his slider, Manoah (6-2) allowed just one hit, walked none and scored 10, a shy of his best run.
“That slide was nasty tonight against some good left-handed punches,” Montoyo said.
This report used information from ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press.