Blue Jays set club record for back-to-back HRs

TORONTO -- When it rains, it pours for the Blue Jays, who set a franchise record on Friday night at Rogers Centre with their 12th back-to-back home runs of the season.

Toronto’s four home runs powered the club to a 7-3 win over the Mariners and gave the club 36 total in August, which trails only the Yankees for the MLB high this month.

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Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got it started with a homer on a pitch that, for a moment, he looked content to watch pass for a ball. Lefty Wade LeBlanc threw Guerrero a changeup down and in and, despite Guerrero appearing to make a late decision to swing, he quickly turned on the pitch with tremendous bat speed and muscled it over the left-field wall for his 14th of the season. It marked Guerrero’s first homer since he hit two in Baltimore on Aug. 1.

Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo has seen a player barrel up a pitch like that before. Coincidentally, that guy was also named Vladimir Guerrero. And after a second look, the younger Guerrero saw some of his father in the swing, too.

“I knew when I hit that ball that the pitch was down, but when I saw the video, I don’t even know how I hit that ball,” Guerrero said. “So I guess I looked like my dad.”

That was the first pitch of the at-bat that Guerrero was challenged inside, which might help explain the unusual swing. The count might have helped him, though, because Guerrero chose to exercise a little extra patience, something that’s been at the core of his recent success.

“I was just in a 2-2 count, so I was trying to wait just a little longer,” Guerrero said, “and I think that’s what helped me make good contact.”

Next was Randal Grichuk, who did things the old-fashioned way by working a 2-0 count and getting a pitch over the plate. Grichuk took a low cutter and launched it 405 feet to left-center for his 23rd of the season, extending his team lead and putting him within two of his career high of 25, set last season.

Guerrero and Grichuk are the usual suspects -- likely representing the current and future home run leaders for the Blue Jays -- but Toronto has also spread its power evenly throughout its lineup. The club has had 11 players, including the departed Freddy Galvis and Eric Sogard, have hit 10 or more homers this season. Billy McKinney, with nine, should reach that plateau soon enough, and Bo Bichette, with four, will have a chance down the stretch.

Left fielder Derek Fisher launched his third home run with the Blue Jays in the bottom of the second when he hung back on a 70.9-mph curveball from LeBlanc and sent it over the right-field wall. In the seventh, catcher Danny Jansen continued his encouraging offensive play with his 12th of the season to left field.

After Jacob Waguespack earned the win with 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball, Ken Giles entered in a non-save situation and finished the game with a clean inning. Giles has been day to day at times recently, but Montoyo said that Giles felt good tonight and, after throwing just 12 pitches, it’s possible that Giles could be available for a back-to-back appearance tomorrow.