It didn't take long for Alejandro Kirk to make an impact for the Toronto Blue Jays in his return from the injured list.
On the very first pitch of Friday's game against the New York Yankees, Kirk got a ball overturned to a strike for his starting pitcher, Trey Yesavage, with an ABS challenge.
Then, in his first at-bat, Kirk laced an RBI double into the gap to score Toronto's first run of the game.
The 27-year-old catcher has been out since April 3 after sustaining a fractured left thumb in the fifth game of the season.
In the next at-bat, Blue Jays third baseman Kazuma Okamoto launched a low slider from Yankees starter Ryan Weathers into the 500 level at Rogers Centre.
The moonshot left Okamoto's bat at 111.4 m.p.h. and travelled 423 feet before landing in the upper deck. It was the first Blue Jays homer into the 500 level since Josh Donaldson on May 30, 2017.
Kirk proceeded to rip base knocks in his next two at-bats, including an RBI single in the in the bottom of the fifth.
Earlier, Kirk received a loud ovation from Blue Jays fans upon first stepping back onto the field shortly before first pitch.
The Tijuana, Mexico native is coming off his second career all-star season in 2025, when he posted a .769 OPS and hit 15 homers in 130 games.
Kirk's 4.7 fWAR ranked second to only Seattle Mariners backstop Cal Raleigh last season; he stands to be a major boost to the Blue Jays' lineup on both sides of the ball.
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