{"id":673288,"date":"2026-04-11T13:21:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T13:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/673288\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T13:21:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T13:21:22","slug":"valenzuela-smashes-his-first-mlb-homer-as-the-blue-jays-trounce-the-twins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/673288\/","title":{"rendered":"Valenzuela smashes his first MLB homer as the Blue Jays trounce the Twins"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\">Brandon Valenzuela delivered his first big moment in the majors \u2014 and he did it when it mattered most. The rookie catcher launched his first MLB home run to give the Toronto Blue Jays the lead in the fourth inning, a swing that ultimately set the tone for a 10-4 comeback win over the Minnesota Twins in the series opener at Rogers Centre.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Valenzuela\u2019s blast \u2014 a two\u2011run shot to right field off a splitter from Simeon Woods Richardson \u2014 wasn\u2019t just his first big\u2011league homer. It flipped the scoreboard and ignited an offense that had been searching for a spark. The ball traveled 383 feet and left his bat at 111.4 mph, making it the hardest\u2011hit ball by any Blue Jay this season at the time.<\/p>\n<p>A swing that changed the game<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The moment came in the fourth inning with the game still up for grabs. Sitting on a 1\u20130 count, Valenzuela got a pitch he could handle and didn\u2019t miss. The clean, loud contact not only broke the tie \u2014 it shifted the entire momentum of the night.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">With that swing, Valenzuela became just the 21st player in Blue Jays history to hit a go\u2011ahead home run for his first career blast. The last to do it was Alan Roden back in April 2025 against Atlanta.<\/p>\n<p>A complete night at the plate<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The home run was only part of the story. Valenzuela put together a full, confident performance, finishing 2\u2011for\u20114 with two runs scored and two RBIs \u2014 his first multi\u2011hit game in the majors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">He wasn\u2019t done after the homer, either. In the eighth inning, he reached again with a single and later came around to score, helping Toronto capitalize in key moments throughout the night.<\/p>\n<p>Related stories<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Get closer to the game! Whether you like your soccer of the European variety or that on this side of the pond, our AS USA app has it all. Dive into live coverage, expert insights, breaking news, exclusive videos, and more. Plus, stay updated on NFL, NBA and all other big sports stories as well as the latest in current affairs and entertainment. <a href=\"https:\/\/en.as.com\/app-as\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/en.as.com\/app-as\/\" target=\"_blank\">Download now for all-access coverage<\/a>, right at your fingertips \u2013 anytime, anywhere.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">And there\u2019s more: check out our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@asusaofficial\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@asusaofficial\" target=\"_blank\">TikTok<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/asusaofficial\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/asusaofficial\/\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram reels<\/a> for bite-sized visual takes on all the biggest soccer news and insights.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brandon Valenzuela delivered his first big moment in the majors \u2014 and he did it when it mattered&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":673289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2388],"tags":[5,822,60,3190,4,148],"class_list":{"0":"post-673288","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-twins","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-minnesota","10":"tag-minnesota-twins","11":"tag-minnesotatwins","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-twins"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116386286035129735","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=673288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/673289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}