Sean Keys hits 1st career home run as Blue Jays beat slumping Mets 9-3 in Canada Day matinee

TORONTO (AP) — Sean Keys hit his first career home run, Myles Straw added a pinch-hit shot and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the New York Mets 9-3 in a Canada Day matinee Wednesday.

Kazuma Okamoto, Ernie Clement and Daulton Varsho had RBI hits as the Blue Jays took two of three games from New York in the series.

Alejandro Kirk went 2 for 2 with two walks and scored twice. Toronto is 24-9 when scoring five or more runs.

Carson Benge hit a two-run homer and Francisco Lindor added a solo drive but the Mets lost for the 10th time in 12 games and dropped their fifth consecutive series.

Keys was promoted from Triple-A Buffalo last week after hitting 21 home runs at two minor league levels this season.

After Clement hit an RBI double in the third, Keys followed with a three-run homer off Freddy Peralta that made it 5-0.

Peralta (5-7) allowed five runs and seven hits in four innings, his third straight winless start. He walked three and struck out four.

Toronto went 3 for 7 with runners in scoring position against Peralta. Opposing batters have gone 19 for 49 (.388) with runners in scoring position against the right-hander in his past eight starts.

The Blue Jays added four more against Cionel Pérez in the seventh. Varsho hit an RBI single and Straw added a three-run homer, his third.

Benge homered off Patrick Corbin in the eighth, his 10th. Lindor connected off Corbin in the ninth, his fourth.

Braydon Fisher opened for Toronto and Spencer Miles (4-1) followed with three innings of one-hit ball. Corbin came on in the fifth and pitched the final five innings for his first save since 2016.

Before the game, the Blue Jays put designated hitter George Springer on the paternity list and recalled outfielder Jonatan Clase from Triple-A.

Mets: RHP Christian Scott (2-0, 3.20 ERA) is scheduled to start Friday at Atlanta.

Blue Jays: Had not announced a starter for Friday’s game at Seattle.

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

Fans watch as the Canadian flag is taken onto the field of play for Canada Day before the start of MLB baseball action between the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Mets in Toronto on Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Blue Jays' Andres Gimenez tries to turn the double play but New York Mets' A.J Ewing is safe at first base during fourth inning MLB baseball action in Toronto on Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Blue Jays' Ernie Clement, left, and Alejandro Kirk congratulates Sean Keys after he hit a three run home run against the New York Mets during third inning MLB baseball action in Toronto on Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hits a double off of New York Mets pitcher Freddy Peralta during first inning MLB baseball action in Toronto on Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Sean Keys (20) rounds the bases after hitting a three run home run against the New York Mets during third inning MLB baseball action in Toronto on Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine's capital with missiles and drones overnight into Thursday with the intense strikes causing loud explosions and shaking Kyiv for hours.

Residential buildings were damaged in the attacks that killed one person and injured numerous people, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least 11 people were injured.

The attack with ballistic and cruise missiles and drones affected all of the city’s 10 districts, on both sides of the Dnipro River. Many residents took shelter at metro stations after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other authorities issued the first warnings of the attack.

Russia has intensified its attacks on Kyiv in recent weeks, even as Ukraine’s own long-range drone campaign against Russian military sites and energy facilities has caused fuel shortages and disrupted supply lines inside Russia.

Klitschko urged residents to remain in shelters, describing an ongoing “furious enemy attack” on the capital.

He said five people were injured in the Shevchenkivskyi district and one of the injured, a paramedic, was in extremely critical condition.

In the Desnianskyi district, people were trapped inside a damaged nine-story residential building and rescuers headed to the scene, Klitschko said. In the Holosiivskyi district, a fire broke out on the roof of a multistory building.

In the Sviatoshynskyi and Darnytskyi districts, fire broke out in homes and debris trapped people in buildings.

Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said the attack partially destroyed a residential building in the Desnianskyi district, sparked fires near residential buildings at two locations in the Pecherskyi district, and ignited a fire near an administrative building in the Solomianskyi district. He said authorities were also recording damage in the Obolonskyi and Podilskyi districts.

An apartment building burns after a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)

A woman looks at an apartment building burning after a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)