Kazuma Okamoto hit a two-run home run, his first in a Blue Jays jersey, in Toronto's 4-3 pre-season loss to the New York Mets on Monday.
Okamoto, who made his debut Saturday, belted it deep in the bottom of the second inning to open the scoring. Okamoto, 29, crushed his first home run in a Toronto Blue Jays uniform in his second spring training appearance off New York Mets right-hander Clay Holmes on Monday.
The Japanese slugger took a sweeper 431 feet to centre field with a 103.4 m.p.h. exit velocity.
Toronto signed Okamoto to a four-year, $60-million deal on Jan. 4 after he spent his entire 11-year career with the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball. During Okamoto's time in Japan, he was a career .277 hitter with 248 home runs, 717 runs batted in and a .521 slugging percentage. The Blue Jays have been using Okamoto at third base and batting him sixth in the lineup.
The Mets (2-1), who did not have former Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette in uniform, tied it in the third thanks to an RBI single from Nick Morabito, followed by an RBI double by MJ Melendez.
New York added two more runs — on a throwing error in the sixth that scored Jacob Reimer and a Cristian Pache solo shot in the seventh — to take the lead for good. Toronto third baseman Charles McAdoo trimmed the lead with an RBI single in the ninth.
Toronto will host the New York Yankees on Tuesday.
— with files from Sportsnet Staff
