TORONTO (AP) — Ernie Clement and Daulton Varsho homered, and the Toronto Blue Jays became the first AL team to reach 70 wins by beating the Chicago Cubs 5-1 on Tuesday night.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had three hits as the AL East-leading Blue Jays (70-50) improved to 23-11 against NL opponents.
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Chicago Cubs' Carson Kelly (15) reacts after striking out with the bases loaded against the Toronto Blue Jays during third inning MLB baseball action in Toronto on Tuesday, August 12, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Nathan Lukes (38) makes a diving catch against the Chicago Cubs during second inning MLB baseball action in Toronto on Tuesday, August 12, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Blue Jays' Alejandro Kirk, right, slides safely into second base as Chicago Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson (7) defends during the fifth inning of a baseball game in Toronto on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Blue Jays' Ernie Clement celebrates his three-run home run against the Chicago Cubs during fourth inning MLB baseball action in Toronto on Tuesday, August 12, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Blue Jays' Ernie Clement (right) celebrates his three-run home run against the Chicago Cubs with Ty France (2) and Daulton Varsho (5) during fourth inning MLB baseball action in Toronto on Tuesday, August 12, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
The Cubs have dropped five of seven. In those five losses, they scored a total of six runs.
Toronto right-hander José Berríos (9-4) allowed two hits, both singles, in 5 1/3 scoreless innings. He walked four and struck out three.
Pitching in front of a season-high crowd of 43,003, Berríos won his fourth straight decision. He is 7-1 with a 3.62 ERA in his past 10 starts.
Starting for the first time since Sept. 25, 2024, at Philadelphia, Cubs right-hander Javier Assad (0-1) allowed four runs and eight hits in four innings.
The Cubs reinstated Assad off the 60-day injured list. He had been sidelined by an oblique injury.
Alejandro Kirk’s RBI single was one of three Blue Jays hits in the first inning.
Clement hit a three-run drive off Assad in the fourth. Varsho extended Toronto’s advantage with a leadoff blast against Ben Brown in the eighth. It was Varsho's 12th homer.
Chicago’s Michael Busch hit an RBI single off Tommy Nance in the seventh. Brendon Little came on and struck out Pete Crow-Armstrong to strand runners at second and third.
Blue Jays infielder Andrés Giménez went 1 for 3 with a walk in his return from a sprained left ankle. Giménez last played July 4.
Varsho singled to begin the fourth and Ty France was hit by a pitch before Clement’s first-pitch drive to left.
The Blue Jays are 31-31 on the road and 39-19 at home.
Blue Jays RHP Kevin Gausman (8-8, 3.85 ERA) is scheduled to start Wednesday against Cubs RHP Cade Horton (6-3, 3.18 ERA).
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Chicago Cubs' Carson Kelly (15) reacts after striking out with the bases loaded against the Toronto Blue Jays during third inning MLB baseball action in Toronto on Tuesday, August 12, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Nathan Lukes (38) makes a diving catch against the Chicago Cubs during second inning MLB baseball action in Toronto on Tuesday, August 12, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Blue Jays' Alejandro Kirk, right, slides safely into second base as Chicago Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson (7) defends during the fifth inning of a baseball game in Toronto on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Blue Jays' Ernie Clement celebrates his three-run home run against the Chicago Cubs during fourth inning MLB baseball action in Toronto on Tuesday, August 12, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Blue Jays' Ernie Clement (right) celebrates his three-run home run against the Chicago Cubs with Ty France (2) and Daulton Varsho (5) during fourth inning MLB baseball action in Toronto on Tuesday, August 12, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to five years in prison Friday in the first verdict from eight criminal trials over the martial law debacle that forced him out of office and other allegations.
Yoon was impeached, arrested and dismissed as president after his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024 triggered huge public protests calling for his ouster.
The most significant criminal charge against him alleges that his martial law enforcement amounted to a rebellion, and the independent counsel has requested the death sentence in the case that is to be decided in a ruling next month.
Yoon has maintained he didn’t intend to place the country under military rule for an extended period, saying his decree was only meant to inform the people about the danger of the liberal-controlled parliament obstructing his agenda. But investigators have viewed Yoon’s decree as an attempt to bolster and prolong his rule, charging him with rebellion, abuse of power and other criminal offenses.
In Friday’s case, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Yoon for defying attempts to detain him, fabricating the martial law proclamation, and sidestepping a legally mandated full Cabinet meeting and thus depriving some Cabinet members who were not convened of their due rights to deliberate on his decree.
Judge Baek Dae-hyun said in the televised ruling that imposing “a grave punishment” was necessary because Yoon hasn’t shown remorse and has only repeated “hard-to-comprehend excuses.” The judge also restoring legal systems damaged by Yoon’s action was necessary.
Yoon’s defense team said they will appeal the ruling, which they believe was “politicized” and reflected “the unliberal arguments by the independent counsel.” Yoon’s defense team argued the ruling “oversimplified the boundary between the exercise of the president’s constitutional powers and criminal liability.”
Prison sentences in the multiple, smaller trials Yoon faces would matter if he is spared the death penalty or life imprisonment at the rebellion trial.
Park SungBae, a lawyer who specializes in criminal law, said there is little chance the court would decide Yoon should face the death penalty in the rebellion case. He said the court will likely issue a life sentence or a sentence of 30 years or more in prison.
South Korea has maintained a de facto moratorium on executions since 1997 and courts rarely hand down death sentences. Park said the court would take into account that Yoon’s decree didn’t cause casualties and didn’t last long, although Yoon hasn’t shown genuine remorse for his action.
South Korea has a history of pardoning former presidents who were jailed over diverse crimes in the name of promoting national unity. Those pardoned include strongman Chun Doo-hwan, who received the death penalty at a district court over his 1979 coup, the bloody 1980 crackdowns of pro-democracy protests that killed about 200 people, and other crimes.
Some observers say Yoon will likely retain a defiant attitude in the ongoing trials to maintain his support base in the belief that he cannot avoid a lengthy sentence but could be pardoned in the future.
On the night of Dec. 3, 2024, Yoon abruptly declared martial law in a televised speech, saying he would eliminate “anti-state forces” and protect “the constitutional democratic order.” Yoon sent troops and police officers to encircle the National Assembly, but many apparently didn’t aggressively cordon off the area, allowing enough lawmakers to get into an assembly hall to vote down Yoon’s decree.
No major violence occurred, but Yoon's stunt caused the biggest political crisis in South Korea and rattled its diplomacy and financial markets. For many, his decree, the first of its kind in more than four decades in South Korea, brought back harrowing memories of past dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s, when military-backed leaders used martial law and emergency measures to deploy soldiers and tanks on the streets to suppress demonstrations.
After Yoon's ouster, his liberal rival Lee Jae Myung became president via a snap election last June. After taking office, Lee appointed three independent counsels to look into allegations involving Yoon, his wife and associates.
Yoon's other trials deal with charges like ordering drone flights over North Korea to deliberately inflame animosities to look for a pretext to declare martial law. Other charges accuse Yoon of manipulating the investigation into a marine’s drowning in 2023 and receiving free opinion surveys from an election broker in return for a political favor.
A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shouts slogans outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol waits for a bus carrying former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs as police officers stand guard outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A picture of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is placed on a board as supporters gather outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
