Whit Merrifield hit a three-run home run and Yusei Kikuchi pitched six strong innings as the visiting Toronto Blue Jays earned an 8–1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday, July 26, in the deciding game of a three-game series.
Merrifield drove in four runs, including a sacrifice fly in the second inning for an early 1–0 lead, as the Blue Jays recovered from a heartbreaking defeat Tuesday when they held a four-run lead in the ninth inning. Danny Jansen added a home run for Toronto.
Kikuchi (8–3) started his outing with five scoreless innings and finished by allowing one run on seven hits with two walks and eight strikeouts.
Dodgers right-hander Tony Gonsolin (5–4) gave up five runs on seven hits over five innings after he was one strike away from holding the Blue Jays to two runs before Merrifield’s home run with two outs in the fifth.
Gonsolin, who has yielded at least four runs in six of his past seven starts, fanned five and walked three.
Enrique (Kike) Hernandez started at second base in his return to the Dodgers and had two hits. Hernandez, who played for Los Angeles from 2015–20, was acquired in a trade with the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday.
The Dodgers lost the series after winning three consecutive road series to open the second half.
Toronto increased its lead to 2–0 in the third when Brandon Belt singled to score Cavan Biggio. Merrifield’s three-run homer in the fifth for a 5–0 lead, his seventh of the season, came after Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled earlier in the inning.
Jansen’s 13th home run of the season came in the sixth off left-hander Alex Vesia for a 6–0 advantage.
The Dodgers avoided the shutout in the bottom of the sixth when Chris Taylor doubled and scored on a two-out single from James Outman.
Bichette delivered a two-run single in the eighth inning as the Blue Jays improved to 7–5 in the second half. Bichette had three hits after a four-hit game on Tuesday.
