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.
“Home runs are always good," said manager John Schneider. "Five-hit days are always good, too. It was kind of just constant (offence). Addy’s walks were good, and it just carried over.”
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.
“It was a laser beam,” a smiling Yesavage said afterwards. “Really cool. He’s a special player on defence and on offence.”
“Getting Barger back is huge,” Clement said. “Just gives us a little bit of energy.”
As Schneider pointed out, it’s one thing to have a great arm, it’s another thing to be accurate with it, too.
“That gives you a little momentum and allows Trey to settle in a little bit,” the manager said.
“I was pretty happy,” Barger said. “I mean, it’s so much fun throwing the ball from the outfield. It’s one of my favourite parts of the game, so any time I get the chance, I’m really excited.”
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 with 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.
“He’s got a knack for making big pitches,” Schneider said. “He looked like himself and understood what he needed to do in every situation. When you’re getting some funky swings from lefties and righties with both split and slider, that’s pretty much a telltale sign of when he’s on.”
Three starts into his 2026 season, Yesavage hasn’t been quite as dominant as his 0.68 ERA might suggest, but he’s still providing ample reason for optimism.
“I’d say it’s been a success,” Yesavage said. “I put up zeroes today, but I’d like to go a little deeper into the game and give the bullpen a little bit of a rest.”
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).
Sanchez hit the Blue Jays’ third home run of the game off position player Adam Frazier in the bottom of the eighth.
Asked whether he takes any credit for the turnaround, Barger smiled.
“Absolutely not. But it’s awesome to go off like that.”
And it’s certainly preferable to the last five weeks, which featured lots of rehab work from Barger while the team struggled at the plate.
“I mean, it sucks being away from the guys and just sitting on my couch at home by the time they're playing,” he said. “It's not fun.”
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.
“I think our lineup’s just been laying dormant and getting ready to explode,” Clement said. “So that was an all-around great offensive win right there.”
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