TORONTO – The way the 2026 season has started for the Toronto Blue Jays, they could use a little luck on their side.
In the fifth inning at Rogers Centre Saturday afternoon, the Angels provided some, making a series of defensive mistakes that paved the way for a seven-run outburst on the way to a 14-1 Blue Jays win.
Give the Blue Jays credit: they capitalized fully on the opportunity, putting pressure on Angels defenders with a rally capped off by a three-run homer from Brandon Valenzuela. Good teams are supposed to take advantage of mistakes, and the Blue Jays did just that, improving to 18-21 on the season in front of a sold-out crowd of 41,461.
Four scoreless innings from Trey Yesavage helped, as did home runs by Ernie Clement, who had five hits, and Valenzuela, who had four. Not to be overlooked, Addison Barger returned from the injured list to walk twice and make one of the most impressive throws of his big-league career.
Yesavage got off to a dominant start, striking out the side in the first inning before navigating in and out of jams for each of the next three frames.
In the second, the Angels threatened with two hits and a potential sacrifice fly to right field, but the recently activated Barger unleashed a 101.2 m.p.h. throw to beat Jorge Soler to the plate and keep the game scoreless.
Yesavage allowed two more runners to reach in the third, but escaped without allowing a run, and he loaded the bases in the fourth before inducing a double-play ball off the bat of rookie catcher Sebastián Rivero.
All told, the rookie right-hander pitched four scoreless innings, allowing four hits and two walks and a hit batter while striking out six.
But even though Yesavage’s command wasn’t pinpoint, his stuff allowed him to get out of trouble. His fastball velocity was up, averaging 94.7 m.p.h., and he generated 15 swinging strikes, more than half of which came on his splitter.
Three starts into his 2026 season, Yesavage hasn’t been as dominant as his 0.68 ERA might suggest, but he’s still providing ample reason for optimism.
As for the Blue Jays’ offence, this was a significant step forward for a team that had scored just six total runs in its last four games. While Clement and Valenzuela were the offensive stars, George Springer, Daulton Varsho, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Jesus Sanchez each contributed multi-hit games as the Blue Jays set new season highs in runs (14) and hits (20).
For a team that’s played some tense ballgames this week, a one-sided game like this represents an ideal change of pace. The pressure eases, the batting averages go up, and key relievers like Jeff Hoffman and Louis Varland get a day of rest.
Now it’s a matter of building on that momentum and finding ways to sweep the series Sunday as the climb back to .500 continues.