TORONTO -- Pitch by pitch, Guardians center fielder Angel Martínez willed along his plate appearance in the third inning on Friday. Facing Max Scherzer, the 24-year-old fouled off seven consecutive pitches to open the sequence, before running the count full.
Scherzer came back with a four-seam fastball over the heart of the plate on the 11th pitch of the battle. Martínez sent it halfway up the bleachers in right-center field at Rogers Centre.
Martínez belted a pair of home runs on Friday, including that two-run shot off Scherzer in the third inning, to help send the Guardians to an 8-6 win over the Blue Jays in the opener of a three-game series. It marked Martínez’s first career multi-homer game, after he also hit a two-run shot in the first inning.
It also was our latest evidence of what has gone right for the Guardians’ offense in the early going this season: Martínez from the left side of the plate.
The switch-hitting Martínez struggled from the left side in 2025, when he hit .197 with six home runs and a .545 OPS over 315 plate appearances. He entered Friday hitting .295 with two home runs and an .890 OPS as a left-handed hitter in ’26.
Martínez’s first homer off Scherzer, in the first inning, went a Statcast-projected 388 feet and had a 103.0 mph exit velocity. His second blast went 398 feet and had a 105.2 mph exit velocity. Both were part of a big night from the Guardians’ lineup.
Daniel Schneemann went 2-for-4 with a leadoff home run. He hit first as Steven Kwan got the day off. George Valera added a two-run double in the first inning, and Brayan Rocchio went 2-for-4.