Surging Blue Jays brush past Yankees

NEW YORK — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit his 40th homer, Marcus Semien went deep twice and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the New York Yankees 8-0 on Monday for their fifth straight win.

Hyun Jin Ryu (13-8) pitched six effective innings as the Blue Jays won for the eighth time in nine games. Toronto also improved to 5-2 in the Bronx this year.

Guerrero hit his 40th homer on Jameson Taillon’s 13th pitch, a full-count curveball that landed a few rows into the seats in right. The slugger and his Hall of Fame father joined Cecil and Prince Fielder as the second father-son duo to hit 40 homers.

Guerrero finished with three hits, extending his hitting streak to a career-high 14 games.

Guerrero Sr. hit 449 homers in his 16-year career. His career high was 44 for the 2000 Montreal Expos when Toronto’s slugging first baseman was one year old.

“I have front-row seats to watch this whole season,” said Toronto manager Charlie Montoyo, a teammate of Guerrero Sr. in 1996 with Double-A Harrisburg. “What he’s done, that’s not easy to do. This guy, he’s going to be one of the best players in baseball. Actually, he already is and it’s been fun to watch somebody that young be that good at the plate.”

Guerrero, 22, became the youngest player in Toronto history to hit 40 homers, well ahead of Jesse Barfield, Tony Batista and Shawn Green, who were all 26 when they hit 40 homers for the first time. Guerrero also became the 10th player in MLB history with 40 homers in his age-22 season.

“That’s amazing,” Semien said. “I knew when we took BP, it was a good day to hit to right field. He didn’t hit on the field, but I mentioned that to him. He’s so good he did it in his first atbat. It’s something special.”

Semien hit a solo drive in the first and his fifth career grand slam in the ninth. He has five homers in his last five games and a career-high 37 on the year.

Teoscar Hernández also went deep in the ninth for the Blue Jays.

Ryu held the Yankees to three singles after losing his previous two starts. He struck out six, including Joey Gallo three times, and walked none. Ryu was lifted after 80 pitches. He said he felt tightness in his right forearm when he threw a slider. He did not seem to think it would prevent him from making his next start.

“I felt really good with all my pitches today and I feel like it’s one of those games that I felt my best,” Ryu said.

Ryu got help from a slimmeddown Guerrero at first base. Guerrero, who lost 42 pounds in the offseason, made two nice stretches to get a throw from shortstop Bo Bichette in the fifth and a toss from Semien on a double play in the sixth.

Coming off a pair of one-run losses to the lowly Orioles, the Yankees lost for the seventh time in nine games.