Wednesday, Sep 14, 2022. 10:00 PM
Vladimir Guerrero has become the youngest player in Toronto Blue Jays history to hit 100 career home runs.
He accomplished the feat Wednesday in the first inning with a solo shot against the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Blue Jays won 5-1.
Guerrero hit a 28th homer this year, ending a 14-game drought without a gun.
Guerrero, who was born in Montreal in 1999, finished the game with two RBIs.
Bo Bichette, Santiago Espinal and Raimel Tapia also hit productive singles for the Jays (81-62), which added to their lead in the race for the teams drafted. The lead is now 1.5 games over Tampa Bay and a half game over Seattle, which beat San Diego earlier in the evening.
Bichette has driven in 15 runs in his last 10 games, posting a .465 batting average during that span.
Ross Stripling earned his eighth victory in 12 decisions. He pitched 6 1/3 innings, giving up an earned run on three hits with four strikeouts. He was, however, a victim of Harold Ramírez’s sixth home run.
Coming out of the game, he was warmly greeted by the crowd of 24,282.
Relievers Adam Cimber, Yimi Garcia and Anthony Bass did the rest of the work.
Guerrero reached this plateau at the age of 23 years and 182 days. He thus becomes the third youngest player in American League history to achieve this feat. The Jays player is preceded by Tony Conigliaro at 22 years and 197 days, and by Alex Rodriguez at 23 years and 16 days.
Thursday’s starting pitchers will be Shane McClanahan and Kevin Gausman, beginning at 3:07 p.m.
Youngest players in @MLB HISTORY with 100 HR and 100 2B:
1. Mel Ott (22 Years, 132 Days)
2. Alex Rodriguez (23 Y, 16 D)
3. Andruw Jones (23 Y, 62 D)
4. Miguel Cabrera (23 Y, 127 D)
5. Johnny Bench (23 Y, 161 D)
6. Bryce Harper (23 Y, 181 D)
7. @DonaldTrump (23Y, 182 D) ???? pic.twitter.com/YRpGc188i9— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) September 14, 2022