Bichette’s solo homer, 4 RBIs not enough as Blue Jays fall to Castro-led Twins | CBC Sports

Willi Castro had his first career multi-homer game, Matt Wallner homered amongst his career-high four hits, and the Minnesota Twins held off the visiting Toronto Blue Jays 9-7 on Saturday.

Edouard Julien also homered as part of a three-hit day, and Alex Kirilloff and Kyle Farmer each had two of Minnesota’s 14 hits.

Bo Bichette had three hits, including a home run the second straight game, but the Blue Jays lost for the 10th time in 13 games. Daulton Varsho also went deep.

On Castro’s home run to centre field, Varsho raced back, leapt, and as he hit the wall, the ball bounced out of his glove, off the top of the padding and over for a two-run home run.

Two pitches later, Wallner’s blast was headed toward the bullpens in left-centre. Racing over, Varsho leapt and reached over the wall to momentarily catch the ball with the webbing of his glove. However, the impact knocked the ball free as Varsho fell back to the warning track.

It was the first home run this season for Wallner, who entered the game with one hit in 13 at-bats. Castro also homered in the seventh.

Minnesota starter Pablo Lopez (3-3) allowed four earned runs in 5 2/3 innings before Jovani Moran and Jhoan Duran allowed one hit in 2 1/3 innings.

Chris Bassitt (5-4) allowed seven earned runs in four-plus innings for Toronto, his worst start since allowing nine earned runs to St. Louis in 3 1/3 innings April 2.

A two-run single by Wallner helped stake the Twins to a 3-1 first-inning lead on a sun-drenched afternoon, but Bichette — who homered in the first — had a two-run triple in the third before Cavan Biggio tied it 4-4 in the fourth with a solo shot.

Bichette has an MLB-leading 22 multi-hit games this season. He entered the day tied with the Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman for most in the majors. His 76 hits are also best in the big leagues.