ST. PETERSBURG -- Kazuma Okamoto owns the Blue Jays’ rookie home run record -- finally.
The slugging infielder snapped a 16-game homerless streak with a Statcast-projected 442-foot solo shot in the fifth inning of Tuesday’s 10-5 series-opening win against the Rays at Tropicana Field. The dinger -- the second-longest of Okamoto’s rookie year -- was Okamoto’s 25th of the season, breaking a tie with Eric Hinske for the franchise record. Hinske was the American League Rookie of the Year in 2002, when he crushed 24 homers.
Said manager John Schneider: "To have that rookie record, I think, is really cool. And he did not miss that ball."
Okamoto said it's "great" to have the record, although he doesn't think much about it. He's more focused on staying with the approach that allowed him to destroy that Steven Matz changeup. Plus, after playing 11 seasons in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball, does Okamoto even consider himself a rookie?
"I'm 30 years old, so yeah, tough to say," he said via a club interpreter.
Okamoto was the AL Rookie of the Month for June and then went deep in three of his first eight games in July. But he has been slumping since then, with just two homers and a .196/.250/.304 slash line in his previous 30 games leading into Tuesday’s game against the best team in the American League. However, Schneider says that he sees some hints that the slugger might be ready to get hot again.
"I thought today, his swings were -- he looked a little bit refreshed," he said. "Even some foul balls just had the kind of intent that we're looking for."
Okamoto’s long drive to left-center was Toronto’s seventh run of the contest. After the Blue Jays put up another run in the fifth and two more in the seventh, they had scored their most runs since July 8 -- a span of 33 games.