Gurriel’s 5 RBIs lift Blue Jays over Angels in a high-scoring affair, completing the sweep

Shohei Ohtani squashed two early homers, but they didn’t stand up.

Not against the all-day relentlessness of the Toronto Blue Jays’ lineup, and not against the ineptitude of the Los Angeles Angels’ pitching team.

Raimel Tapia added three RBIs and Bo Bichette hit a tie homer on the eighth homer for Toronto, who capped their first four-game win over the Angels in 30 years with their best performance of the season. After struggling on the plate preseason, the Jays have 35 runs in their last five games.

“It feels good to get going and play like we can,” said Bichette. “If they score, we have to come out and be ready to score.”

Toronto gambled away a four-run lead and Los Angeles a three-run lead in a wild 25-hit combination game that was highlighted early on by Ohtani’s latest power display.

“It’s one of those days [when if] you’re a pitcher, you don’t want to get out of there, but you want to see how it ends,” said Jose Berrios, who delivered both of Ohtani’s blasts.

Ohtani hit a solo homer in the first inning and a two-run shot in the third for his ninth multi-homer game of his career. The AL MVP has seven homers in May and 11 this season.

Taylor Ward had a two-run homer and an RBI double for the Angels, who lost a season-high five in a row and nine of 12 after the recent struggles of their consistently poor pitching staff. Toronto raked the Angels’ hurlers for 13 hits and eight walks, even without thugs Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Teoscar Hernandez on the starting lineup.

Max Stassi hit a go-ahead homer in the seventh from Adam Cimber (6-2) and drove four hits in three runs, but the Halos finished 3-6 in a nine-game homestand. While Ohtani reached base four times, Mike Trout went 0-for-5 for the first time this season.

Shortly after Bichette leveled it with his solo shot against Ryan Tepera, the Blue Jays retook the lead on Gurriel’s RBI double against Jose Quijada (0-1), who hadn’t played in the majors since April 7. Oliver Ortega also struggled, giving up three runs and three hits while scoring three outs before Tepera came out.

Patrick Sandoval was no better than his bullpen, delivering five earned runs over three innings in his worst start of the year for the Angels.

“With us there is no giving up”

Toronto even won after Berrios gave up six runs on six hits while only making seven outs. Ohtani slammed 413 feet into the elevated right field stand in Berrios’ first curveball, ending the AL MVP’s 0-on-10 slide.

After Ohtani connected a 425-foot homer to the Ficus trees beyond center in the third, Stassi connected it with a two-run single.

Ward then came through fourth with his 10th homer of the season and his first during a homestand he barely played in after running into the outfield wall in the opening game. He added a run-scoring double in the sixth.

Toronto rallied for three runs to tie it in the seventh, slotting Tapia’s RBI single between base-loaded walks for Gurriel and Hernandez from the struggling Tepera.

David Phelps threw in ninth place for his first save since 2019.

Guerrero, who has a sore left wrist, was intentionally used as a pinch hitter in eighth place. Hernandez, who has a minor hip injury, went in the seventh and ninth single.

Guerrero was in the starting lineup but got scratched. Thanks to his eighth-inning appearance, the slugger has missed just one game this season and just two of Toronto’s last 269 contests of 2020.