Bo Bichette homers again to help the Blue Jays beat the Diamondbacks, 8-1

TORONTO (AP) — Bo Bichette had a home run among his three hits, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. reached base five times and drove in three and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-1 on Wednesday night.

Addison Barger had three hits and a walk, and left-hander Eric Lauer (3-1) pitched five innings to help Toronto improve to 24-13 at home.

Click to Gallery

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman (34) catches the ceremonial first pitch from his daughters Sutton, right, and Sadie prior to the first inning of a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Toronto, Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Blue Jays’ Bo Bichette, right, celebrates his solo home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks with Addison Barger during the first inning of a baseball game in Toronto, Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez (57) works against the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning of a baseball game in Toronto, Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Eric Lauer (56) works against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the first inning of a baseball game in Toronto, Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (27) hits a two-run double against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the sixth inning of a baseball game in Toronto, Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Guerrero walked in his first three plate appearances, including an intentional pass in the third. He hit a two-run double in the sixth and singled home a run in the seventh.

Arizona arrived in Toronto having won five of six but lost its third straight, its longest skid since losing three in a row in late May.

Diamondbacks left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez (2-4) allowed two runs, one earned, and six hits in 4 2/3 innings, his first losing decision since April 29 against the Mets.

Bichette, who hit a tying home run in the ninth inning Tuesday in a 5-4 victory, connected for the second straight at-bat when he lined Rodriguez’s second pitch 418 feet to left.

It was Bichette’s fifth career leadoff home run, two of which have come this season. He has 10 homers this season.

Arizona’s Corbin Carroll stayed in to run the bases after being hit on the left hand by a pitch in the top of the eighth, but exited in the bottom half. Alek Thomas took Carroll’s spot in the lineup.

Barger and Guerrero hit back-to-back doubles off Tayler Scott in Toronto’s three-run sixth. One run scored on Barger’s hit while Guerrero’s scored two.

The Blue Jays are 27-2 when they score five or more runs.

Blue Jays RHP Kevin Gausman (5-5, 4.08 ERA) was scheduled to start against RHP Ryne Nelson (3-2, 4.14) on Thursday as Toronto goes for its sixth sweep of the season.

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

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel’s military warned people Thursday to evacuate the area around Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor.

The warning came in a social media post on X. It included a satellite image of the plant in a red circle like other warnings that preceded strikes.

Israel’s seventh day of airstrikes on Iran came a day after Iran’s supreme leader rejected U.S. calls for surrender and warned that any military involvement by the Americans would cause “irreparable damage to them.” Israel also lifted some restrictions on daily life, suggesting the missile threat from Iran on its territory was easing.

The Israeli military said Thursday’s round of airstrikes targeted Tehran and other areas of Iran, without elaborating.

Already, Israel’s campaign has targeted Iran’s enrichment site at Natanz, centrifuge workshops around Tehran and a nuclear site in Isfahan. Its strikes have also killed top generals and nuclear scientists.

A Washington-based Iranian human rights group said at least 639 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 1,300 wounded. In retaliation, Iran has fired some 400 missiles and hundreds of drones, killing at least 24 people in Israel and wounding hundreds. Some have hit apartment buildings in central Israel, causing heavy damage.

The Arak heavy water reactor is 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Tehran.

Heavy water helps cool nuclear reactors, but it produces plutonium as a byproduct that can potentially be used in nuclear weapons. That would provide Iran another path to the bomb beyond enriched uranium, should it choose to pursue the weapon.

Iran had agreed under its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers to redesign the facility to relieve proliferation concerns.

In 2019, Iran started up the heavy water reactor’s secondary circuit, which at the time did not violate Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Britain at the time was helping Iran redesign the Arak reactor to limit the amount of plutonium it produces, stepping in for the U.S., which had withdrawn from the project after President Donald Trump’s decision in 2018 to unilaterally withdraw America from the nuclear deal.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, has been urging Israel not to strike Iranian nuclear sites. IAEA inspectors reportedly last visited Arak on May 14.

Due to restrictions Iran imposed on inspectors, the IAEA has said it lost “continuity of knowledge” about Iran’s heavy water production — meaning it could not absolutely verify Tehran’s production and stockpile.

As part of negotiations around the 2015 deal, Iran agreed to sell off its heavy water to the West to remain in compliance with the accord’s terms. Even the U.S. purchased some 32 tons of heavy water for over $8 million in one deal. That was one issue that drew criticism from opponents to the deal.