{"id":308836,"date":"2026-05-10T10:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T10:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/308836\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T10:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T10:12:14","slug":"brandon-valenzuela-ernie-clement-lead-toronto-blue-jays-to-thumping-of-los-angeles-angels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/308836\/","title":{"rendered":"Brandon Valenzuela, Ernie Clement lead Toronto Blue Jays to thumping of Los Angeles Angels"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 Brandon Valenzuela<\/a>\u2019s three-run homer capped off a seven-run fifth inning, and Ernie Clement<\/a> belted a career-tying five hits for the Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> in a 14-1 thumping of the Los Angeles Angels<\/a> on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Toronto sent 11 batters to the plate in the fifth as Valenzuela\u2019s homer to left field was his fourth in 2026. Clement\u2019s 5-for-5 game at the plate included a solo shot to lead off the seventh.<\/p>\n

Addison Barger<\/a> returned after missing 29 games with a sprained left ankle. He had an outfield assist in the second inning and went 0-for-3 with two walks.<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays (18-21) enjoyed a 20-hit outing with four runs on four hits in the ninth, and Angels position player Adam Frazier<\/a> pitching. Toronto won the first two games of the three-game set.<\/p>\n

The Angels (15-25) have dropped four of their last six outings.<\/p>\n

Valenzuela\u2019s homer came off a first-pitch slider from starter Jack Kochanowicz<\/a> (2-2), who departed after facing six batters in the fifth without recording an out.<\/p>\n

Kochanowicz allowed six earned runs on nine hits with two walks and no strikeouts before 41,461 at Rogers Centre.<\/p>\n

Toronto starter Trey Yesavage<\/a> went four innings. His 87-pitch, shutout effort yielded six strikeouts with four hits, two walks and a hit batter.<\/p>\n

Relievers Mason Fluharty<\/a> (2-0), Braydon Fisher<\/a>, Joe Mantiply<\/a>, Tyler Rogers<\/a> and Tommy Nance<\/a> worked an inning each to close the deal. Rogers surrendered the Angels\u2019 lone run in the eighth.<\/p>\n

Takeaways<\/p>\n

Blue Jays: Honoured former manager Bobby Cox, who passed away at 84 on Saturday, with a moment of silence before the game. A 2014 Hall of Fame inductee, Cox managed the Blue Jays for four seasons, steering them to their first division title in 1985.<\/p>\n

Angels: The visitors aided Toronto\u2019s fifth with sloppy defence. There was a wild pitch and a throwing error from Kochanowicz. A Jesus Sanchez<\/a> blooper down the left field line fell between outfielder Josh Lowe<\/a>, Yoan Moncada<\/a> and shortstop Zach Neto<\/a>. Finally, Moncado failed to knock down Clement\u2019s hard-hit grounder.<\/p>\n

Key moment<\/p>\n

Barger snared Vaughn Grissom<\/a>\u2019s line drive to right and then threw a bullet to catcher Valenzuela to nab a tagging Jorge Soler<\/a> at the plate for a second-inning ending double play.<\/p>\n

Key stat<\/p>\n

Toronto\u2019s Kazuma Okamoto<\/a> extended his hit streak to eight games. He has batted .370 (10 for 27) with five homers, nine RBI and five walks in May.<\/p>\n

Up next<\/p>\n

Lefty Eric Lauer<\/a> (1-4) will start for Toronto in the series finale against Angels righty Jose Soriano<\/a> (5-2) on Sunday.<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 9, 2026.<\/p>\n

Tim Wharnsby, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Brandon Valenzuela\u2019s three-run homer capped off a seven-run fifth inning, and Ernie Clement belted a career-tying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,127],"class_list":["post-308836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}