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July 11 Gameday: Trey Yesavage looks to lock down Blue Jays’ series win over Padres
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Photo credit: © John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
Tristan Morgan
Jul 11, 2026, 19:45 EDTUpdated: Jul 11, 2026, 19:52 EDT
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Kazuma Okamoto’s tiebreaking three-run homer off reliever Jhony Brito powered the Toronto Blue Jays to a 5-3 win over the San Diego Padres on Friday, taking the series opener, winning their third straight, and setting up a chance to close to win their second straight series on the road before heading to the All-Star Break. The Blue Jays send Trey Yesavage to the mound Saturday night in his first career start against the Friars. 
Yesavage takes the ball for his 14th start of the season, carrying a 3.31 ERA. He’s thrown 73.1 innings with 68 strikeouts, working out to an 8.3 K/9, and he’s held opponents to a microscopic .181 batting average against him this season. His last time out came against Seattle, when he worked six innings and allowed just two earned runs on three hits. Blue Jays pitching as a whole has been sharp lately, posting a 3.31 ERA over its last 10 games, though the group has also surrendered 12 home runs in that stretch, a reminder that the long ball still remains a weakness within this staff. 
Standing across from him is Walker Buehler, who has posted a 5.07 ERA and an 8.3 strikeouts per nine rate through 18 starts this season, allowing a .265 batting average against. His last outing came against Arizona, where he lasted just five innings and gave up seven earned runs on seven hits. San Diego’s staff has been bled dry over its last 10 games in general, carrying a 6.49 ERA as a group and allowing 17 home runs in that span. If Toronto’s lineup stays patient early, that recent trend suggests Buehler and the rest of the Padres’ pitching staff are in for a hefty workload in this one. 
The Blue Jays’ offence has finally started to find its groove, all hail the red dragon. With the lineup mired in one of its worst stretches of the season, assistant hitting coach Cody Atkinson stopped at a toy store before Tuesday’s game in San Francisco and picked up a stuffed dragon on a stick, on the suggestion of hitting coach David Popkins that the group needed something to represent fearlessness. Jonatan Clase christened it with a three-run homer that night, and Toronto broke out for nine runs in a win over the Giants. It reappeared the very next day for Okamoto’s first career grand slam, part of a five-run first inning in a 10-0 rout, with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Springer punctuating the win with back-to-back homers of their own. 
On Friday, the dragon came out again for Okamoto’s three-run home run to take a 5-2 lead against the Padres, his 22nd homer of the season, tying Shohei Ohtani’s record for the most home runs by a Japanese-born rookie in a single MLB season, a mark Ohtani set with the Angels in 2018. Okamoto’s total is also the most by a Blue Jay before the All-Star Break since Guerrero’s 28 and Marcus Semien’s 22 in 2021.
The underlying numbers back up the eye test from the dragon. Toronto has gone deep eight times with 18 extra-base hits over its last 10 games, while Ernie Clement has broken out of a cold stretch, hitting .289 with two doubles and two walks in that span. It’s a real step forward for a club that still ranks 27th in the majors in runs scored at 4.1 per game and has struggled for most of the season with runners in scoring position.
San Diego’s offence, by contrast, has been erratic. The Padres have hit 10 homers over their last 10 games and are slugging .388 in that stretch, with Manny Machado batting .286 with a team-high four homers and eight RBI over the same span, but San Diego still owns the worst team batting average in baseball at .225. Though third baseman Sung-Mun Song has provided some punch as well, collecting six base hits with a .370 slugging mark over his last 10 games.
Toronto sits within shouting distance of the final AL Wild Card spot, just 1.5 games back, and this nine-game road trip through Seattle, San Francisco and San Diego is going to go a long way toward deciding how many chips are going to be pushed in this Trade Deadline by GM Ross Atkins. A sweep in this series would put Toronto within two games of .500 for the first time since June 24th, and with Trey Yesavage on the mound for the second game of this series, the Blue Jays should have every reason to believe Saturday night is theirs for the taking, with the hopes of waking up on Sunday morning with a sweep on their minds.
Location: San Diego, CA (Petco Park)
First Pitch: 8:40 PM ET
Watch/Listen: Sportsnet, SN590

Starting Pitchers

Toronto Blue Jays – Trey Yesavage: 4-4 record, 3.31 ERA, 73.1 IP, 68 SO, 32 BB
San Diego Padres – Walker Buehler: 5-5 record, 5.07 ERA, 87.1 IP, 80 SO, 31 BB

Lineups:

Blue Jays:
  1. Ernie Clement – 2B
  2. Nathan Lukes – RF
  3. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – 1B
  4. George Springer – DH
  5. Kazuma Okamoto – 3B
  6. Daulton Varsho – CF
  7. Alejandro Kirk – C
  8. Andrés Giménez – SS
  9. Jonatan Clase – LF
Padres:
  1. Fernando Tatis Jr. – RF
  2. Jackson Merrill – CF
  3. Xander Bogaerts – SS
  4. Manny Machado – DH
  5. Gavin Sheets – LF
  6. Ty France – 1B
  7. Jake Cronenworth – 2B
  8. Luis Campusano – C
  9. Sung-Mun Song – 3B
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