Bo Bichette’s three homers, six hits lead Blue Jays to doubleheader sweep in Baltimore

BALTIMORE—Before Saturday night’s win in Pittsburgh, Bo Bichette said he was feeling better at the plate than he had in years.

Then he went out and delivered the game-winning, three-run double in the seventh inning, after hitting a big insurance home run in the ninth inning Friday. After a pedestrian Sunday, when he only managed a single and a walk, the 24-year-old imposed his will upon the Orioles on Monday, leading the Blue Jays to a doubleheader sweep that kicked off a run of 16 games out of 21 against Baltimore and Tampa Bay.

Bichette had three hits in the opening 7-3 win, as well as an RBI groundout, but that was just the trailer. The feature attraction was the nightcap.

A first-pitch, three-run home run off Nick Vespi in the third inning put the Jays on top 3-1. A first-pitch home run off Bruce Zimmermann leading off the sixth made it 4-1. And a second-pitch drive off Zimmerman the next inning capped his first three-homer game and put the finishing touch on an 8-4 victory, the Jays’ fifth in a row.

The two wins pushed the Jays’ lead over Baltimore to 4 1/2 games for the final wild-card spot in the American League and lifted them within a half-game of Seattle and Tampa Bay, who are in a virtual tie for the top spot. The doubleheader sweep even moved the Jays just 5 1/2 games behind the first-place Yankees.

“Vibes are obviously good,” interim manager John Schneider said after the pair of wins. “They’re up for this exciting part of the season. You hear them talk in the clubhouse and in the dugout and everything that they’re saying, they’re going out and doing. It says a lot about the character, it says a lot about the grit. Eighteen innings is really hard to do. People don’t understand how tough that is.”

Bichette played all 18 innings in the field Monday. So did Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who went 2-for-4 in the opener, driving in a run with a 112.8-m.p.h. single up the middle as part of a four-run ninth inning.

But Bichette was the story, his first home-run hat trick making him only the second Jays shortstop to get one (Chris Woodward did it in 2002). His six-hit day means he’s now hitting .400 over the past 15 games.

“I’m just coming to the field every day (and) competing,” said Bichette, typically subdued. “That’s it. But I feel good. I’m really just focused on coming to the field (Tuesday) and giving my best (Tuesday). Whatever happens, happens.”

If Bichette was going to be modest, Kevin Gausman was ready to lavish praise.

“Bo is a guy who can change the game with any swing,” said Gausman, who gave up two runs over 6 2/3 strong innings to pick up the win in Game 1. “As a pitcher watching Bo hit, like, how many places can you go? There’s not many holes. He handles the breaking stuff exceptionally well, he can get to high heaters and, if you throw him a fastball away, he has no problem slapping it into right field.”

Bichette has rarely been hotter than he is right now and, with 13 wins in their past 17 games, neither have the Jays.

Mike Wilner is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star and host of the baseball podcast “Deep Left Field.” Follow him on Twitter: @wilnerness

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