Bo Bichette homers and scores deciding run, Blue Jays beat Angels 3-2 for 8th straight victory

TORONTO (AP) — Bo Bichette homered and scored the deciding run to lead the Toronto Blue Jays to their season-high eighth straight victory, 3-2 over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday.

The American League East-leading Blue Jays improved to 52-38, sweeping a homestand of seven of more games for the first time since 1994 and second in franchise history.

Click to Gallery

Toronto Blue Jays’ Myles Straw scores on an RBI single by teammate Joey Loperfido off Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Anderson during fourth-inning baseball game action in Toronto, Sunday, July 6, 2025. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Trout (27) rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run off Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman during first-inning baseball game action in Toronto, Sunday, July 6, 2025. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

Cleveland Guardians’ Angel Martinez, left, slides safely into second base as Detroit Tigers’ Colt Keith waits for the throw during the seventh inning of a baseball game, Sunday, July 6, 2025, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Phil Long)

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman works against the Los Angeles Angels during first-inning baseball game action in Toronto, Sunday, July 6, 2025. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Blue Jays’ Myles Straw scores on an RBI single by teammate Joey Loperfido off Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Anderson during fourth -inning baseball game action in Toronto, Sunday, July 6, 2025. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto drew even on with Bichette’s leadoff homer in the fourth inning. His 12th homer came after his error in the top of the inning loaded the bases for the Angels. Davis Schneider drove in Bichette in the sixth inning with a single down the left-field line.

Mike Trout homered for the Angels with two out in the first.

After Bichette’s homer, Toronto went ahead in the fourth on a two-out single from Joey Loperfido, who made his season debut. The Angels tied it in the fifth when Taylor Ward singled over Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman struck out nine in 5 2/3 innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and three walks. Tyler Anderson (2-6) yielded three runs on eight hits with two walks and two strikeouts in five-plus innings.

Reliever Ryan Burr (1-0) got the victory in his first outing of the season after dealing with a right-shoulder injury. Jeff Hoffman picked up his 22nd save.

With the bases loaded and one out in the fourth inning, Gausman coaxed Gustavo Campero into a 1-3 double play.

The Blue Jays have 52 wins with six games remaining before the All-Star break. The club record for victories before the break is 53, set in 1985 and matched in 1992.

Yusei Kikuchi (3-6) was scheduled to start for the Angels at home Monday night against Texas. Jose Berrios (4-3) was set to start for Toronto on Monday night in Chicago against the White Sox’s Sean Burke (4-7).

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

LONDON (AP) — Carlos Alcaraz’s latest up-and-down Wimbledon performance began with a dropped set. Later Sunday, he was in danger of getting broken to fall further behind in the third. And then, as he so often does, Alcaraz seized the moment, produced some magic and moved closer to a third consecutive title at the All England Club.

Alcaraz stretched his winning streak in the grass-court Grand Slam tournament to 18 matches — and his current unbeaten run across all events to 22 — by coming back to beat No. 14 seed Andrey Rublev 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 at Centre Court to return to the quarterfinals.

In this fortnight’s first matchup between two men ranked in the top 20, No. 2 Alcaraz brought out his best while down 3-2 in the third set. First, he needed to fend off a break chance for Rublev, doing so with a forehand passing winner.

After eventually holding to 3-all, Alcaraz earned his own break opportunity and didn’t let Rublev escape. On an eight-stroke exchange, Alcaraz sprinted from one corner of the court to the other and, with a stomp of his right foot and a bit of a slide, he flicked a cross-court forehand winner.

Oh, did he relish that one. Alcaraz spread his arms wide, pointed to his right ear and basked in the crowd’s loud adulation, the noise bouncing off the underside of the stadium’s closed roof.

Rublev sat in his sideline chair, looked up at his guest box and made a sarcastic “OK” hand signal. Just 10 minutes later, that set belong to Alcaraz, who will face 2022 semifinalist Cam Norrie — the last British player in singles — on Tuesday for a berth in the final four.

“I always said that it’s just about belief in yourself. It doesn’t matter that you are one-set-to-love down,” Alcaraz said. “Tennis is a sport that can change in just one point. One point can change the match completely, turn around everything.”

The 61st-ranked Norrie, who played college tennis at TCU in Fort Worth, Texas, advanced with a 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (7), 6-7 (5), 6-3 win over qualifier Nicolas Jarry, who hit 46 aces. Norrie had a chance to close things out much earlier than he did but failed to convert a match point while ahead 6-5 in the third-set tiebreaker.

The other men’s quarterfinal Tuesday will be No. 5 Taylor Fritz vs. No. 17 Karen Khachanov. Fritz, last year’s U.S. Open runner-up, had a short day because his opponent, Jordan Thompson, quit after about 40 minutes with back and leg injuries that he’d been dealing with throughout the tournament.

Alcaraz is just 22 and already owns five Grand Slam trophies, the latest arriving in June at the French Open. He hasn’t lost a match anywhere since April 20 against Holger Rune in the final at Barcelona.

There have been lapses, of course, including when Alcaraz fell behind by two sets against No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the final at Roland-Garros. Or when the Spaniard lost four points in a row after going up 5-3 in the opening tiebreaker against Rublev.

He hasn’t been as close-to-perfect as others over the past week: Sinner, No. 10 Ben Shelton and No. 22 Flavio Cobolli haven’t dropped a set heading into their fourth-round contests.

So, sure, Alcaraz has ceded five sets already, but all that matters is that he hasn’t lost a match.

No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka reached the quarterfinals at her 11th consecutive Grand Slam tournament, defeating No. 24 Elise Mertens 6-4, 7-6 (4), and will play unseeded Laura Siegemund, the 37-year-old German who followed up her elimination of Australian Open champ Madison Keys by beating lucky loser Solana Sierra 6-3, 6-2. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova overcame a missed call late in the first set — when the electronic system accidentally was off — and beat Sonay Kartal 7-6 (3), 6-4 to return to the grass-court major’s quarterfinals for the first time in nine years. Pavlyuchenkova’s opponent Tuesday will be Amanda Anisimova, the 13th-seeded American who got past No. 30 Linda Noskova 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 at night.

Monday’s fourth-rounders include Novak Djokovic against No. 11 Alex de Minaur at 1:30 p.m. local time (8:30 a.m. ET). They were supposed to face each other in last year’s quarterfinals at Wimbledon, but de Minaur was forced to withdraw with a hip injury. That’ll be followed at Centre Court by Mirra Andreeva vs. Emma Navarro, and then Sinner vs. No. 19 Grigor Dimitrov.