Blue Jays bounce back against Royals
KANSAS CITY 1
TORONTO — Dissatisfied with his batting average over the first half of the season, Toronto third baseman Matt Chapman has been working on a minor change to his approach in the batter’s box in recent days.
The adjustment paid off Friday with a three-hit night — including a three-run homer — as the Blue Jays dumped Kansas City 8-1 at Rogers Centre.
“I know that I’m better than a .220 hitter so I was willing to make that change because the results weren’t there,” Chapman said.
Chapman said he started tinkering with things on last week’s road trip. He’s trying to use his legs more at the plate in an effort to drive the ball to all parts of the field.
His power numbers are solid with 15 homers and 45 RBIs and now his average is up to .226 with his 13th multi-hit game of the year.
“Awesome night for him tonight,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider. “We all know what he can do defensively and I think he’s really coming around [at the plate].”
Teoscar Hernandez also hit a three-run shot and Alek Manoah (10-4) threw seven strong innings as the Blue Jays won for the third time in four games.
Hernandez went deep off Royals starter Zack Greinke (3-6) in the third inning and Chapman broke things open with a blast off Carlos Hernandez in the fifth.
Manoah allowed four hits and one earned run with six strikeouts. He gave up an infield single to start the game and retired the next 12 batters in order.
“He’s a beast,” Schneider said. “Ten wins tonight and he’s got another gear with runners in scoring position when he runs into trouble.”
Relievers Trevor Richards and Anthony Banda worked an inning apiece. Raimel Tapia also had three hits as Toronto outhit Kansas City 16-5.
Mariners 8, Rangers 3
ARLINGTON, Texas — Robbie Ray struck out 12 without a walk over 6 2/3 innings, rookie all-star centre-fielder Julio Rodríguez hit a grand slam and the Seattle Mariners extended their longest winning streak in more than two decades to 12 games with an 8-3 win over the Texas Rangers on Friday.
The only time the Mariners had a longer winning streak was their team-record 15 in row in 2001, their last playoff season. Atlanta has the only longer streak in the big leagues this season with 14 consecutive wins last month.
Ray (8-6) allowed three runs, on two Texas homers, while matching his season high for strikeouts.