Kevin Gausman of the Toronto Blue Jays pitches in the second inning of their game against the Athletics at Rogers Centre on Friday.Cole Burston/Getty Images
Kevin Gausman set a franchise record with 11 strikeouts on opening day as the Blue Jays kicked off their 50th anniversary season with a 3-2 victory over the Athletics at Rogers Centre.
Andrés Giménez drove in all three Toronto runs, including the winning one with a two-out single to centre in the bottom of the ninth.
A sell-out crowd cheered during pregame festivities that included the unveiling of a banner to celebrate the club’s American League championship in 2025, its first in 32 years. It went on to lose to the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games in the World Series.
Gausman struck out seven of the first 10 batters he faced and had eight punch-outs over four innings. The lone mistake he made came with one out in the fourth, when catcher Shea Langeliers roped a 375-foot home run to left field to give the A’s a 1-0 lead.
Gausman was pulled after six innings and that was the only hit he allowed and he did not walk a batter.
In the lower half of the fifth, Giménez lined a ball to left that was misplayed by left-fielder Tyler Soderstrom and centre fielder Denzel Clarke for a triple.
Former Blue Jays players Jose Bautista, top left to right, Vernon Wells, Pat Hentgen, George Bell and Ernie Whitt throw out ceremonial first pitches.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
Both seemed to converge on it but it got between them. Kazuma Okamoto, who had drawn an eight-pitch walk, and Ernie Clement, who had a double, scored to give Toronto a 2-1 lead. The club was limited to seven hits – two each by the Japanese rookie Okamoto, Clement and Giménez and one by Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Gausman was in full control, rocking on the mound and tapping his foot on the ground to get his rhythm and balance just so, and he consistently threw strikes. He plowed through the first nine batters, struck out the side swinging in the first, one in the second and two of three in the third. Only one ball got out of the infield.
Athletics starter Luis Severino was nearly as good. He only allowed one runner over the first three innings – a walk to Guerrero – and struck out Addison Barger and Okamoto to end the first and second frames. Okamoto, the incoming third basemen, went down swinging on a 98-mile-per hour fastball high in the strike zone.
Blue Jays, and Toronto, have already embraced newcomer Kazuma Okamoto
Relievers Louis Varland and Tyler Rogers each threw shutout innings before Jeff Hoffman was brought in to close out the game. With one out he allowed another home run to Langeliers to tie it at 2-2. Hoffman had 33 saves last season but his bugaboo was the home run ball and it bit him again.
He ended up getting the win, however, when Toronto staged a rally with two outs to go against Athletics reliever Justin Sterner in the ninth.
Sterner retired the first two batters on easy grounders but then gave up a single to right on a hard fastball away by Okamoto. Clement then chopped a ball over third baseman Max Muncy and Okamoto advanced to third. Giménez then poked one through to send the 42,728 fans happy.
Blue Jays shortstop Andrés Giménez reacts after hitting a walk off RBI during the ninth inning.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Manager John Schneider was impressed with the bottom of his lineup, especially Okamoto.
“He struck out on a 98-mile-per hour pitch in the third but then he settled in and did what he has always done in Japan,” Schneider said. “It’s only the first game but I think he is going to fit in well. He is a good hitter, kind of like Vladdy in that he is a hitter first and then a power hitter after.
“I look forward to watching him.”
Gausman said the game reminded him of the Jays’ tenacity in 2025.
“It was kind of like the last couple months of last season,” he said. “It was awesome.”
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story misspelled Andrés Giménez's name. The story has been corrected.