3 Takeaways From Blue Jays' 7-2 Win Over Brewers

TORONTO — Bo Bichette darted to his right, snatched the ball off a bounce, and fired to first.

As Vladimir Guerrero Jr. caught the game-sealing throw, he pointed out to his shortstop, acknowledging the smooth play.

The Jays didn't need Bichette to make a game-saving play at the end there, they had plenty of room for error thanks to an early offensive onslaught. But, he made the play anyway.

After pre-game controversy, the Blue Jays poured on runs early and coasted to a victory over the Brewers. Here are three takeaways from Toronto's 7-2 win:

Blue Jays Come Out Swinging

Matt Chapman was off on contact. The Blue Jays' third baseman pumped his arms, churned his legs, and hooned around the bases as a dribbling grounder snuck inside the foul line. When Milwaukee's left fielder found the slow roller and fired into home, it was already too late. Chapman was already safe, first to home on a crawling ground ball.

It was exactly what the Blue Jays needed. Grounders finding holes. Good baserunning. Early runs. After the Brewers put up two runs in the top half of the first, the Blue Jays stormed back.

In the first three innings alone, the Jays had six runs on 10 hits while hitting just one ball over 235 feet. In three innings, Toronto notched more hits than they'd had in any of their previous five games.

"I thought up and down the lineup, the approach was pretty good," manager John Schneider said. "Really impressive to put a four-spot up after they scored two [in the first inning]."

Kikuchi Navigates Damage

A long drive to right field sapped the energy out of Toronto's home crowd almost instantly. After an Owen Miller single, Brewers catcher William Contreras cranked a homer into the bleacher seats to put Milwaukee on top in the first frame.

Three batters into Tuesday's game and things were looking bleak for Yusei Kikuchi. But then, the lefty settled.

It wasn't pretty or efficient, but Kikuchi cleaned up the first and scraped through four more scoreless innings to give Toronto a shot. He navigated loud outs and five walks, but the lefty exited Tuesday's contest with five innings of two-run ball — a shutout outing if you take out those first three batters.

"Obviously it wasn't my A-game today," Kikuchi said through a team interpreter. "But I just battled out there. Gave it my all and kept attacking them. That's how I was able to navigate through the five innings today."

In the fourth, Kikuchi got Brewers outfielder Joey Wiemer lashing out at a fastball away. With the swing and miss, Toronto's starter earned his 500th career strikeout.

As the milestone flashed on the video board, Kikuchi took a step off the mound to an ovation from the Rogers Centre crowd, hucking in the strikeout ball to the Blue Jays' dugout.

Lineup Basement Gets It Done

In the second inning, Alejandro Kirk sped down the line as a ball bounced around the infield. Milwaukee's Mike Brosseau snatched the grounder, but his toss to Adrian Houser pulled the pitcher up the line and away from the bag. The speedster Kirk was safe at first.

One pitch later, Cavan Biggio ripped a single into right field to push the backstop over to second — a trend of the evening. Hitting eighth and ninth on Tuesday, Biggio and Kirk combined for five of Toronto's 14 hits, and combined to reach base six times.

"I think it was really big at-bats from Kirky, Cav," Schneider said. "You know, it really lengthens out the lineup and turns it back over to George, Bo, Vlad."

The Jays have received surprisingly solid production from the bottom two spots in their batting order. The eighth and ninth slots have hit for a .729 and .736 OPS, respectively, which rank fourth and fifth highest among all of Toronto's lineup spots this year. Maybe that says more about the middle of the lineup, but you'll take a productive bottom of the order, too.

"You get those guys on base for the top of the order," Schneider said. "That's kind of how we're built to have success."