ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered off Shohei Ohtani for the first time, and George Springer hit a leadoff home run in the Toronto Blue Jays' 6-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday night.
Ohtani (3-3) struck out 10 while yielding five runs over six innings in his eighth mound start of the season. He fell behind 5-2 in the sixth on a drive off the left field pole by Guerrero, who finished right behind the Angels' two-way star in last year's AL MVP voting.
Bo Bichette hit a two-run double and Santiago Espinal had an RBI single in the third inning for Toronto in the opener of a four-game series at the Big A. Danny Jansen added his third homer in two games in the ninth.
Luis Rengifo had an RBI single for the Angels, who have lost six of nine in their worst stretch of the season to date. Ohtani went 0 for 2 with a walk and an RBI groundout at the plate.
Hyun Jin Ryu (2-0) gave up six hits and two runs over five innings for Toronto while retiring Mike Trout three times. The three-time AL MVP is 0 for 13 against the South Korean left-hander — his worst mark against any pitcher he has faced at least 10 times.
After striking out four times Wednesday, Trout went hitless in back-to-back starts for the first time this season.
Toronto hit the ball hard early and often against Ohtani, who beat the Blue Jays last summer in his only previous mound meeting. Ohtani's fastball spin rate was down to 2,129 RPM after he averaged 2,429 coming in, and Toronto put nine balls in play with exit velocities over 93 mph. The Blue Jays got six hits against him.
Springer opened with an eight-pitch at-bat against Ohtani culminating in his 48th leadoff homer, tying Ian Kinsler for the fourth-most in baseball history. The
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