TORONTO -- Joc Pederson took a first-pitch fastball out of the hand of Kevin Gausman to begin Thursday night’s series-opening matchup between the Rangers and Blue Jays. The pitch was well below the zone for a ball.
Pederson and Gausman proceeded to battle it out before most fans had even made it to their Rogers Centre seats. Pederson fouled off seven pitches and got to a 2-2 count before yet another four-seamer -- the 11th pitch of the at-bat -- caught too much of the plate.
Pederson didn’t miss, launching it a Statcast-projected 402 feet for a leadoff homer to begin the evening north of the border. It was the most pitches in a single plate appearance ending with a leadoff home run since June 2, 2022, when Yankees infielder Matt Carpenter pulled it off against Shohei Ohtani (also 11 pitches).
Pederson perfectly set the tone for the Rangers to power towards a 6-5 victory over the Blue Jays to open the series.
Texas also got home runs from Wyatt Langford and Jake Burger in the third inning to account for all the run-scoring, while MacKenzie Gore twirled his seventh quality start of the year, allowing three runs over seven innings while striking out five.