Alejandro Kirk hit two homers and drove in six runs to power the Blue Jays to a 13-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday to give Toronto its first American League East Division title since 2015.
Kirk hit his first career grand slam in Toronto’s five-run first inning and added a two-run shot in the fifth.
The Blue Jays put the game away with a five-run seventh inning. Addison Barger and George Springer homered for Toronto in the frame.
Toronto secured the top seed in the AL at 94-68 and will have home-field advantage when the best-of-five division series begins Saturday at Rogers Centre.
The Blue Jays started the day needing a victory or a New York Yankees loss to Baltimore to secure a first-place finish.
Toronto set the tone early in front of a sellout crowd of 42,083 on a glorious autumn afternoon.
After Ian Seymour (4-3) issued back-to-back walks, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. drove in a run to put Toronto on the board. Daulton Varsho singled to load the bases before Kirk’s 387-yard blast over the wall in left field.
The plucky Rays made it a one-run game by scoring three runs in the third inning against Toronto starter Kevin Gausman, who was pulled after Tampa Bay loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth.
Mason Fluharty came on and struck out Jonathan Aranda to escape the jam. In the fifth inning, Kirk launched a 419-foot blast to straightaway centre field.
It was Toronto’s fourth straight win. The second-place Yankees beat the Orioles 3-2 but will have to settle for an appearance in the wild-card series.
The Rays (77-85) fell to a season-worst eight games under .500.