SAN DIEGO — 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.
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Okamoto homered into the seats in left on a 95-mph sinker from reliever Jhony Brito with one out in the fifth, a three-run shot that gave the Blue Jays a 5-2 lead in a 5-3 victory .
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 on Tuesday night against Colorado’s Michael Lorenzen that made him the first Japanese-born player in the majors to reach the milestone.
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Okamoto, 30, hit his first grand slam on 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.
Fellow Japanese rookie Munetaka Murakami rejoined the Chicago White Sox on Friday night after being sidelined for more than a month with a strained right hamstring. He was named to the AL All-Star team and added to the field for the Home Run Derby in Philadelphia.
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