The Toronto Blue Jays have their first post-season victory in nine years.
Alejandro Kirk had his second straight two-homer game to power the Toronto Blue Jays to a 10-1 rout of the New York Yankees in Game 1 of their American League (AL) Division Series on Saturday.
Toronto’s previous post-season win came in Game 4 of the 2016 AL Championship Series against Cleveland. The Blue Jays lost that series in five games.
Kirk, who drove in six runs in Toronto’s regular-season finale last Sunday, hit a solo shot in the second inning and added another in the eighth.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went 3 for 4 with two RBIs. He opened the scoring with a two-out solo homer off Luis Gil (0-1) in the first inning — the first post-season home run of his career — and added a sacrifice fly in Toronto’s four-run seventh inning.
Nathan Lukes had two hits, three RBIs and a diving catch, and Andres Gimenez added two hits and drove in a pair as the AL East champion Blue Jays used 14 hits to snap a seven-game playoff losing streak.
Kevin Gausman (1-0) allowed one run and four hits in 5 ⅔ innings for the win. He walked two and struck out three.
Gausman ran into trouble in the sixth by loading the bases with nobody out. He struck out slugger Aaron Judge before walking Cody Bellinger to make it a one-run game.
After getting Ben Rice on an infield fly, reliever Louis Varland came on and struck out Giancarlo Stanton.
Nathan Lukes hit a two-run double in Toronto’s four-run seventh inning. The Blue Jays tacked on another four runs in the eighth.
Gil was pulled in the third inning. The 2024 AL Rookie of the Year allowed two runs and four hits in 2 2/3 innings.
Game 2 on Sunday
Game 2 in the best-of-five series is scheduled for Sunday afternoon at Rogers Centre. Game 3 will be played at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night.
Blue Jays rookie Trey Yesavage is expected to start against Yankees’ Max Fried in Game 2.
Yesavage, who rose through four minor league levels this season, will be making his fourth big league appearance after going 1-0 with a 3.21 ERA in three September starts.
Fried, a three-time All-Star, went 19-5 with a 2.86 ERA in the regular season. He pitched 6 1/3 shutout innings in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series against Boston.
Toronto has won seven of eight home meetings with New York this season. The Blue Jays went an AL-best 54-27 at home in the regular season.
The Yankees advanced to the ALDS on Thursday with a 4-0 win over the Boston Red Sox in the deciding game of their three-game wild-card series.
New York won the AL pennant last year before falling to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.
