{"id":6980,"date":"2026-07-11T05:05:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T05:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6980"},"modified":"2026-07-11T05:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T05:05:08","slug":"blue-jays-okamoto-hits-22nd-homer-to-tie-ohtanis-mark-by-a-japanese-born-rookie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6980","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jays’ Okamoto hits 22nd homer to tie Ohtani’s mark by a Japanese-born rookie"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Toronto Blue Jays\u2019 Kazuma Okamoto hits a three-run home run against the San Diego Padres in the fifth inning of a baseball game Friday, July 10, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo\/Derrick Tuskan)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

SAN DIEGO \u2014 Toronto\u2019s 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.<\/p>

Read more Murakami rejoins White Sox on same day he is named to AL All-Star team<\/a><\/p>\n

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<\/a> .<\/p>\n

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\u2019s Michael Lorenzen that made him the first Japanese-born player in the majors to reach the milestone.<\/p>

Read more Chisholm\u2019s homer keys 3-run 9th as the Yankees rally past Washington 5-3<\/a><\/p>\n

Okamoto, 30, hit his first grand slam on Wednesday at San Francisco.<\/p>\n

Okamoto\u2019s 22 homers before the All-Star break are the most by a Blue Jays player since Vladimir Guerrero Jr.\u2019s 28 and Marcus Semien\u2019s 22 in 2021, and the most by a Toronto rookie in franchise history.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> in Philadelphia.<\/p>

Read more Mikel Merino stars again as Spain edges Belgium 2-1 in the World Cup quarterfinals<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP MLB: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/mlb<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toronto\u2019s 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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nBlue Jays' Okamoto hits 22nd homer to tie Ohtani's mark by a Japanese-born rookie - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6980\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Blue Jays' Okamoto hits 22nd homer to tie Ohtani's mark by a Japanese-born rookie - 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