Kazuma Okamoto<\/a>\u2019s latest big night, going deep in the fourth and fifth innings for his first multi-homer game in the majors during Friday\u2019s\u00a0 7-3 romp over the Twins, is an important development.<\/p>\nHis first homer, a solo shot on a slider in the fourth off Simeon Woods Richardson, restored a Blue Jays lead after Byron Buxton\u2019s two-run drive in the third off Patrick Corbin had tied the game 2-2. His second one, on a first-pitch splitter from the former Blue Jays prospect, followed a six-pitch walk by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and opened up a 6-2 lead.<\/p>\n
In recent weeks, they\u2019ve missed both Barger\u2019s pop and Kirk\u2019s disciplined, pitch-eating patience and contact in the middle of the lineup. Okamoto\u2019s power coming around after a period of struggle can help cover for that, as well as backfill for the production that left with Bo Bichette in free agency.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s a really good lineup and I\u2019m just part of it,\u201d Okamoto said through interpreter Yusuke Oshima. \u201cMy mentality just is to just pass the baton, make sure that I’m not ending the inning, ending a rally, just making sure I pass the baton off to the next batter.\u201d<\/p>\n
He did more than just that Friday, narrowly missing a third homer in the ninth \u2013 \u201cI didn’t have my pre-game quesadilla today, I think if I would have had that, it would have been a home run,” he quipped \u2013 but it can\u2019t be him alone.<\/p>\n
And in the Blue Jays\u2019 eighth win in the last 12 outings, the synchronicity Schneider described was right there alongside him.<\/p>\n
Yohendrick Pinango, continuing to impress since being promoted after Lukes\u2019 injury, got the ball rolling for the Blue Jays in the second on a chopper to first with runners on second and third and the infield drawn in. Josh Bell fielded the ball and threw home but wide, pulling catcher Victor Caratini into the basepath, where he collided with Daulton Varsho, who scored easily, with Lenyn Sosa following in behind him.<\/p>\n
There was no need for fullback-style scoring on RBI singles from Pinango in the fourth and the seventh, and the rookie outfielder added another single in the fifth for a three-hit outing. Sosa also had three hits as the Blue Jays paired knocks with slug, a combination they\u2019ve been trying to find more often.<\/p>\n
Corbin, meanwhile, made the offence work, continuing to be the type of pitcher every team needs \u201cstepping in who you weren’t really counting on to stabilize you for a little bit,\u201d said Schneider. He allowed two runs on six hits, one the Buxton homer, and a walk over 5.1 innings before a significantly pro-Blue Jays crowd of 19,762, and the team is now 4-1 in his five starts.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust trying to go out there, keep us in games,\u201d said Corbin. \u201cThis offence is good enough, keep them in striking distance, that’s all you could ask for. I’d like to maybe try to go a little deeper, but sometimes it’s a close game and bullpen’s been so good, you can rely on those guys. But anytime you come out of a game with a lead, or it’s close within a run or two, with this team, you’ve got a chance. Just try to do that every time I take the ball.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Okamoto\u2019s played a big role in helping take advantage of such outings from Corbin and others over the last two weeks, going 13-for-45 with five homers and 14 RBIs over his last 13 games. In the 12 games previous, he was just 6-for-45 with one RBI and 14 strikeouts, benefitting from some adjustments to better cover the outer half of the plate and handle velocity.<\/p>\n
He said spending time \u201creflecting after every game and seeing where and how I can improve,\u201d has led to some of the better results. Joining a handful of teammates for early hitting on the field with Popkins every day has helped him \u201cget used to the scenery and the batter’s eye and stuff, has been a huge help, I feel, and I’d like to continue doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Blue Jays want him to continue having outings like Friday, when the full array of his abilities at the plate is on display.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Schneider described Okamoto\u2019s \u201cskill-set (as) hit the ball hard, hit some homers and then put the ball and play with two strikes, so it’s not like an all-or-nothing, sellout we want you to slug,\u201d he said. That comes with getting yourself into good counts. But he has the ability to manoeuvre the barrel, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
An ideal fit for a Blue Jays lineup still seeking to find this year\u2019s version of last year\u2019s synch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MINNEAPOLIS \u2014 John Schneider, hitting coach David Popkins and assistant Lou Iannotti sat inside the visiting clubhouse at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":642422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-642421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642421","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=642421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}