TORONTO — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. turned the primary participant to go deep in his first plate look following a Home Run Derby win, Brandon Belt drove within the tiebreaking run within the seventh inning and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-2 on Friday night time.

Matt Chapman had three hits and an RBI and Whit Merrifield drove in two runs as Toronto opened the second half of the season with its sixth win in seven video games.

The Blue Jays are 17-7 in opposition to NL opponents. Toronto is 51-41, a season-best 10 video games above .500.

“I liked the way we played,” Guerrero mentioned via a translator. “We’re going to continue to play with the same intensity. It’s excellent right now.”

Guerrero led off the second with a 426-foot drive off Arizona starter Ryne Nelson for his 14th house run.

“Before the Derby and in the previous series, I was starting to feel pretty good at the plate,” Guerrero mentioned. “When I start feeling comfortable at the plate, obviously things are going to be better.”

PHOTOS: Guerrero homers as Blue Jays open second half with 7-2 win over Diamondbacks

Guerrero gained the All-Star Home Run Derby in Seattle on Monday night time, matching Vladimir Guerrero Sr.’s 2007 title to change into the primary father-son duo to perform the feat. The youthful Guerrero is the primary Blue Jays participant to win a Home Run Derby crown.

Guerrero is the fifth participant to homer in his first sport after the All-Star break and the primary to take action in his first plate look. He linked on a 2-2 slider from Nelson.

“It just kind of slipped out of my hand, popped a little bit, right where he wants it,” Nelson mentioned. “Right there, that’s a pitch I have to execute and not leave it over the plate.”

Nelson gave up two runs, one earned, and 9 hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Arizona made two errors and had three runners thrown out on the bases, together with two within the first inning. The Diamondbacks have misplaced six of eight.

“We ran into an inning worth of outs on the bases,” supervisor Torey Lovullo mentioned. “We just weren’t very heads up. We did not play anything close to the game that we normally play.”

The groups met for the primary time since an offseason commerce that despatched outfielder Daulton Varsho north of the border in alternate for outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and catcher Gabriel Moreno. Both former Blue Jays gamers have been cheered throughout pregame introductions, and Gurriel acquired an ovation earlier than his first at-bat because the designated hitter.

Belt drove in Kevin Kiermaier with a fielder’s alternative grounder within the seventh when the Diamondbacks couldn’t flip a double play on Belt’s grounder to second baseman Ketel. George Springer’s slide into the legs of shortstop Geraldo Perdomo helped extend a five-run inning for Toronto.

“It wasn’t the cleanest exchange from Ketel and then the throw pulled (Perdomo) across the bag,” Lovullo mentioned. “There were a lot of things today that didn’t go the way we normally expect to see it done.”

Guerrero adopted with a base hit, Chapman hit an RBI double and Merrifield made it 6-2 with a two-run single.

Merrifield later scored on Marte’s throwing error.

Blue Jays right-hander Trevor Richards (1-1) pitched 1 2/3 innings for the win regardless of permitting Moreno’s game-tying house run within the prime of the seventh.

Diamondbacks reliever Kyle Nelson (4-2) took the loss, retiring simply one of many three batters he confronted.

Arizona lower a 2-0 deficit in half within the fourth when Marte scored on a wild pitch by Blue Jays right-hander José Berríos.

Berríos allowed one run and 7 hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked one and struck out 4.

Moreno tied it by homering off Richards within the seventh, his third.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Blue Jays: LHP Hyun Jin Ryu (Tommy John surgical procedure) will pitch for Triple-A Buffalo Saturday. Ryu pitched 4 scoreless innings in his earlier rehab begin, July 9 with Class-A Dunedin.

DERBY DELIGHT

The earlier participant to homer in his first sport following a Home Run Derby triumph was Milwaukee’s Prince Fielder in 2009.

HIT PARADE

Ten completely different gamers had no less than one hit for Toronto, who completed with 16. It’s the second time this season the Blue Jays have had no less than 10 gamers document successful. Thirteen Toronto gamers had successful in a May 23 win at Tampa Bay.

FAST BALL

Indy 500 champion Josef Newgarden, on the town for Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto, threw out the primary pitch.

UP NEXT

Blue Jays RHP Kevin Gausman (7-5, 3.03 ERA) begins Saturday in opposition to Diamondbacks RHP Zac Gallen (11-3, 3.04 ERA).

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