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Series Recap: Blue Jays split four-game series with Twins to remain two games below .500
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Photo credit: © Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
May 4, 2026, 16:00 EDTUpdated: May 4, 2026, 15:58 EDT
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Over the weekend, the Toronto Blue Jays played their first four-game series of the season.
Heading to Minneapolis to take on the Minnesota Twins, the Blue Jays split the series with the American League Central team. With the split, they haven’t lost a series in over two weeks, dating back to when they dropped two of three against the Arizona Diamondbacks. This split ended their three-series win streak, though.
As was the case for the past two series, the Blue Jays dropped the first game of the series, falling 7-1 on Thursday. After three scoreless innings, Daulton Varsho hit his fourth home run of the season to put the Blue Jays up 1-0 in the top of the fourth. That was all she wrote for the offence.
The Twins responded in the bottom half of the fourth, as Ryan Jeffers hit a two-run shot off Kevin Gausman. Then in the bottom of the sixth, Byron Buxton hit a solo home run off Gausman. Things got worse later that outing, with former Blue Jay top prospect Austin Martin hitting an RBI single to get Gausman out of the game. The Twins added three more runs in the bottom of the eighth.
Friday’s game was the complete inverse. In the top of the second, Yohendrick Piñango put the ball in play to score a run, then a second run was scored as Josh Bell’s throw went out of play. Buxton hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the third, but Kazuma Okamoto responded with his first home run of the series in the top of the fourth. Piñango drove in a run for the Blue Jays in the fourth.
Next time up, Okamoto hit his second home run of the game, a two-run home run that put the Blue Jays up 6-2 in the fifth. Then in the seventh, Piñango drove in his second RBI of the game to give the Blue Jays a 7-2 lead in a 3-4 effort. The Twins added a third run thanks to a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh.
With the series tied at one heading into Saturday’s game, the Blue Jays earned at-worst a series split thanks to an 11-4 victory. The Twins took the lead in the bottom of the first, as Buxton hit a solo home run. In the top of the second, Lenyn Sosa and Myles Straw went deep with solo home runs of their own, putting the Jays up 2-1. That didn’t last long, as Brooks Lee drove in two with an infield single and a throwing error.
The Twins added an insurance run in the fifth, as Trevor Larnach hit an RBI single. Okamoto gave the Blue Jays some life with a solo home run in the top of the sixth, but the Blue Jays took over in the top of the eighth. They tied it, took the lead, and Brandon Valenzuela’s third home run of the season, a three-run home run, capped off an eight-run eighth in an 11-4 victory.
Entering Sunday’s series finale, the Blue Jays had a chance to win their fourth consecutive series. Despite a late comeback, they were unable to do so. In the bottom of the first, Victor Carantini drove in a run, then Braydon Fisher gave up three earned runs in the bottom of the fifth to put the Twins up 4-0.
The Jays had a chance to tack some runs in the top of the sixth, scoring a run and loading the bases with two outs, but Tyler Heineman flew out on the first pitch to strand three. Then in the top of the ninth, Straw reached on an infield single and was driven in by Okamoto, who hit his fourth home run of the series. The Jays got the next two batters on, but Sosa hit a hard grounder for a double play in the 4-3 loss.
It would’ve been nice for the Jays to take three of four, as they would have reached .500 again. That said, they made some positive strides, as Okamoto has become their biggest power threat after adjusting to big league pitching. As for the Blue Jays’ pitching, it was solid as well, aside from a few innings where a reliever struggled.
The Blue Jays are right back in action on Monday, heading to St. Petersburg to take on the Tampa Bay Rays. It’ll be the first time that the Blue Jays return to Tropicana Field since a weekend series toward the end of the 2024 season, as the Rays’ home stadium suffered damage in Hurricane Milton in October 2024. This will be the first matchup between the two American League East teams, and just the second series the Jays have played against a team in their division.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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