{"id":496241,"date":"2026-02-24T12:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T12:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/496241\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T12:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T12:02:09","slug":"toronto-blue-jays-kazuma-okamoto-blasts-1st-hr-of-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/496241\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Blue Jays\u2019 Kazuma Okamoto Blasts 1st HR of Spring"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#13;<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/japannews.yomiuri.co.jp\/attachment\/313297\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-313297 nofollow noopener\" class=\"zoom\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/MLB_-Spring-Training-New-York-Mets-at-Toronto-Blue-Jays-4.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a>&#13;<br \/>\nIMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<br \/>Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Kazuma Okamoto hits a two-run homer in the second inning of a spring training game against the New York Mets on Monday in Dunedin, Fla.<\/p>\n<p class=\"byline\">By Yu Hirasawa \/ Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent<\/p>\n<p class=\"postdate\">18:07 JST,\u2002February 24, 2026<\/p>\n<p>DUNEDIN, Fla. \u2014 Kazuma Okamoto hit his first home run of spring training, and it was the type that the Toronto Blue Jays are hoping to see more of from their newly acquired slugger.<\/p>\n<p>Okamoto blasted a two-run shot 131 meters to dead center field in the Blue Jays\u2019 4-3 loss to the New York Mets on Monday in Dunedin, Fla.<\/p>\n<p>Batting sixth in the lineup and starting at third base, the home run in the second inning was also Okamoto\u2019s first hit in the major leagues this spring. He also struck out in the fourth inning before coming out of the game.<\/p>\n<p>Okamoto, who hit 30 or more home runs in six consecutive seasons for the Yomiuri Giants, joined Toronto this season on a four-year, $60 million contract.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile in Scottsdale, Ariz., the Chicago White Sox\u2019s Munetaka Murakami went 2 for 4 with a double and two strikeouts in a 5-4 loss to the Colorado Rockies.<\/p>\n<p>In Glendale, Ariz., Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani wrapped up his preseason camp with the National League team on Sunday and was to leave the United States to join up with the Samurai Japan team for the World Baseball Classic.<\/p>\n<p>Ohtani participated in simulated pitching and free batting practice as he prepares for Japan\u2019s defense of the WBC, although he has said he will not be pitching in the tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; &#13; IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters ConnectToronto Blue Jays third baseman Kazuma Okamoto hits a two-run homer in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":496242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-496241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}