Toronto Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk (30) is doused with ice water after his team defeated the New York Yankees in MLB baseball action in Toronto on Friday, June 12, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jon Blacker
Toronto Blue Jays' Kazuma Okamoto (7) hits a ground ball, reaching first on a fielder's choice against the New York Yankees during third inning MLB baseball action in Toronto on Friday, June 12, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jon Blacker
TORONTO - On any other night, the monster home run from Toronto Blue Jays infielder Kazuma Okamoto hit into the fifth deck in the first inning would have dominated the post-game chatter.
But Okamoto鈥檚 423-foot blast, the first since Josh Donaldson slammed one into the 500 level, took a back seat to the return of veteran catcher Alejandro Kirk on Friday night.
Kirk was back behind the plate for the first time since he suffered a fractured left thumb 62 games ago. He returned in style with a three-hit, two-RBIs and a walk in the Blue Jays鈥 (34-36) 8-5 series-opening win over the New York Yankees (41-27).
He also successfully challenged the first pitch tossed by starter Trey Yesavage that home-plate umpire John Tumpane incorrectly called a ball.
鈥淵eah, it's pretty good,鈥 Toronto manager John Schneider said. 鈥淚t's kind of Kirky, like he doesn't budge. First pitch, challenge, no biggie, double, single, single, walk. Yeah, he's just steady. He's one of one, man.
"It's great to have him back for a variety of reasons. The at-bats were great, but just having him back was great. You don't really just expect a 3-for-3 night, and everything to be perfect. But I think getting some guys back just stabilizes a lot of things. It stabilizes things on the field and stabilizes things in the clubhouse.鈥
As Kirk walked to the bullpen for Yesavage鈥檚 warm-up session, there was a buzz at Rogers Centre. The fans who arrived early cheered the sight of the 27-year-old back in a Blue Jays uniform.
Then, when he came to the plate in his cleanup spot in the first inning, the sellout gathering of 41,596 rose to give Kirk an ovation.
鈥淚 heard every one of them,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 love the fans here.鈥
On the pitch challenge, Kirk said he wants to challenge any pitch he feels is a strike. Yesavage had his back turned and didn鈥檛 know his catcher had challenged the opening pitch until he heard the umpire announce the review.
鈥淚鈥檓 glad he challenged it,鈥 Yesavage said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 a great pitch caller, and you saw what he can do on offence.鈥
At the plate, Kirk doubled to the left-field gap to score Ernie Clement in the first, singled in the third and fifth, knocking in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with the third hit. He walked in the seventh.
鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 trying to do too much,鈥 Kirk said. 鈥淚 was just trying to get on base.鈥
He was on base when Okamoto clubbed his fifth-deck shot for his team-leading 14th homer. It left even a slugger like Guerrero with his mouth wide open.
鈥淚 was the same,鈥 Schneider said, referring to Guerrero鈥檚 reaction. 鈥淚 was just hoping it was fair. You knew it was going far. You don't see that very often, but that was about as pure as you can clip a slider and keep it fair. He鈥檚 got some big-time power, man.鈥
This report by 好色tvwas first published June 12, 2026.
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