Bichette and Chapman's home runs lift Blue Jays over Mariners

TORONTO — Bo Bichette believes the Blue Jays' offensive outburst on Monday will help Toronto's hitting get back on track. But to do that, he and his teammates have to stick with their process.

Bichette and Matt Chapman each had a solo home run as the Blue Jays beat the Seattle Mariners 6-2. Bichette drove in another run with a single in the eighth inning on a 3-for-5 night.

"We've got to show up to the field ready to play every day. It's not going to be easy," said Bichette. "We're going to have offensive games like that but we have to be coming, ready to play, every day. It's not just going to happen."

Pinch-hitter Alejandro Kirk's single scored two for Toronto (19-17) and Raimel Tapia had an RBI single to back starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi (2-1) in one of his best outings of the Major League Baseball season.

"To see (Kikuchi) being aggressive, going after hitters, I think that's huge for him," said Bichette. "He's been getting better. Hopefully, he just continues to learn himself more and be aggressive and build off of this."

Kikuchi allowed only one hit over six innings with six strikeouts. It matched his longest game of the season — a 2-1 win over the Yankees in New York on May 4 — and was the fewest hits and runs he allowed all year.

He said his ongoing improvement is thanks to the guidance of Blue Jays pitching coach Pete Walker.

"Pete mentioned trying throw a 'bitter' which was basically a bigger cutter," said Kikuchi through translator Kevin Ando. "Just throwing that with that intent. It felt great after like one or two throws and so I've just kind of stuck with that."

Trevor Richards, Yimi Garcia, Ryan Borucki, Ross Stripling and Adam Cimber came on in relief for Toronto. Richards and Stripling both allowed