Blue Jays’ Okamoto hits 22nd homer to tie Ohtani’s mark by a Japanese-born rookie

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Toronto’s Kazuma Okamoto hit his 22nd home run Friday night to tie Shohei Ohtani for the most by a Japanese-born rookie in a single season in the majors.

Okamoto homered into the seats in left on a 95-m.p.h. sinker from reliever Jhony Brito with one out in the fifth, a three-run shot that gave the Blue Jays a 5-2 lead.

Ohtani was with the Los Angeles Angels when he hit 22 in 2018.

Ohtani, in his third season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, hit his 300th career homer Tuesday against Colorado’s Michael Lorenzen to become the first Japanese-born player in the majors to reach the milestone.

Okamoto, 30, hit his first grand slam Wednesday at San Francisco.

Okamoto’s 22 homers before the all-star break are the most by a Blue Jays player since Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s 28 and Marcus Semien’s 22 in 2021, and the most by a Toronto rookie in franchise history.

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

The Associated Press