{"id":793411,"date":"2026-07-11T11:16:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T11:16:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/793411\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T11:16:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T11:16:18","slug":"blue-jays-ride-okamotos-record-tying-blast-to-tidy-win-over-padres","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/793411\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jays ride Okamoto’s record-tying blast to tidy win over Padres"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN DIEGO \u2013 Kazuma Okamoto<\/a> made some history Friday, tying Shohei Ohtani for the most home runs by a Japanese rookie with 22.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More importantly for the Toronto Blue Jays<\/a>, Okamoto provided the decisive swing in their 5-3 win over the San Diego Padres, hitting a three-run homer into the left-field seats in the top of the fifth inning. Thanks to that swing and a bounce-back outing from Shane Bieber<\/a>, the Blue Jays improved to 45-49 on the season and are now 1.5 games behind the Mariners for the third American League wild-card berth.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the kind of swing the Blue Jays have come to expect from Okamoto, who has established himself as the team\u2019s most dangerous power hitter in just half a season. Yet afterwards, he downplayed the achievement, saying he\u2019s simply trying to do his part.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s just a number,\u201d he explained through interpreter Yusuke Oshima. \u201cYou guys all know Shohei\u2019s an awesome player. He’s a unicorn. So being able to match that record, yeah, it’s awesome. But I just want to do my best so that I can get closer to his level.\u201d<\/p>\n

If he can sustain this pace over the season\u2019s second half, the right-handed hitting third baseman would end up with 38 home runs and a .786 OPS. And regardless of where the homer total ends up, he\u2019s sure to pass Ohtani\u2019s record \u2013 though White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami will likely be a factor in that race down the stretch, too.<\/p>\n

One way or another, this is exactly what the Blue Jays hoped for when they signed Okamoto for $60 million over four years last winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s got power, man,\u201d said manager John Schneider. \u201cI mean, he didn’t even get that (home run). He just continues to be really impressive \u2013 adjusting pitch to pitch and game to game. I\u2019m running out of things to say, you know? (That\u2019s) some pretty elite territory there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about the growth he\u2019s seen from Okamoto since the season started, Schneider pointed to the evolution of the 30-year-old\u2019s plate approach as he\u2019s gained a better understanding of how pitchers are attacking him. The manager also highlighted the confidence he now has interacting with teammates and coaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of times it takes a little bit of performance to feel welcome,\u201d Schneider said. \u201cI think that he’s felt really comfortable since he’s gotten here, but when you’re leading the charge, it’s easy to be really, really likeable.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

As for Bieber, he allowed two first-inning runs on a Xander Bogaerts home run, but settled in after his tough start and got plenty of support from a rested Blue Jays bullpen.<\/p>\n

Making his fourth start of the season, Bieber covered 4.2 innings while allowing two runs and three walks on four hits on his way to 97 pitches, a season high.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve been feeling good,\u201d Bieber said afterwards. \u201cSome mechanical adjustments are starting to show up.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the third-base dugout, Schneider liked what he saw.<\/p>\n

\u201cA step in the right direction, for sure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Bieber’s velocity ticked up Friday as he averaged 93 m.p.h. with his four-seam fastball, up from his season average of 92. While still not overpowering, that increase does put more pressure on opposing hitters and may have helped Bieber generate 11 swinging strikes and four strikeouts.<\/p>\n

\u201cVelocity\u2019s not everything,\u201d Bieber said. \u201c(But) when you see the velocity tick up, it shows some of the mechanical adjustments are helping. More than anything, I feel like after the first inning, I started to execute better. That\u2019s what I’m focused on.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Bieber\u2019s departure, five Blue Jays relievers combined to cover 4.1 \u00a0innings while allowing just one run. Mason Fluharty helped Bieber escape the fifth, followed by Chad Dallas, Jeff Hoffman, Tyler Rogers and Louis Varland.<\/p>\n

Varland allowed three late hits on the way to San Diego\u2019s final run, but of all those relievers, it\u2019s perhaps Dallas who jumps out the most in this game. A starter in triple-A for most of the season, the 26-year-old hasn\u2019t been used as a leverage reliever until now, but may be called on in these situations more often following the trade of Tommy Nance to the Minnesota Twins.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love his composure,\u201d Schneider said of Dallas. \u201cAnd his breaking ball\u2019s really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

All told, it was a tidy, drama-free win for a team that still has plenty of work ahead. With Okamoto slugging homers and Bieber finding his rhythm on the mound, Friday had some significant positives.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m getting there,\u201d Bieber said. \u201cIt’s safe to say the last three starts were not good enough and not up to my standards, or the Blue Jays\u2019 standards. Tonight was a little bit better and hopefully I can continue that forward momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same can be said of the Blue Jays\u2019 season as a whole.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN DIEGO \u2013 Kazuma Okamoto made some history Friday, tying Shohei Ohtani for the most home runs by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":793412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-793411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}