Okamoto hits a 3-run homer as the Blue Jays rally past the Cubs 8-6
Kazuma Okamoto hit a three-run home run to cap a five-run eighth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays rallied from a five-run deficit to beat the Chicago Cubs 8-6
CHICAGO (AP) — Kazuma Okamoto hit a three-run home run to cap a five-run eighth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays rallied from a five-run deficit to beat the Chicago Cubs 8-6 on Saturday.
Daulton Varsho returned from the 10-day injured list and added a three-run shot as Toronto won for the fourth time in five games.
Matt Shaw and Pete Crow-Armstrong homered for the Cubs, who wasted a 5-0 lead in the late innings and missed a chance to win their third straight.
Chicago's Jacob Webb (1-2) came on with two on in the eighth and gave up consecutive RBI singles to Alejandro Kirk and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to tie the game at 5-all.
Okamoto then sent his 16th homer of the season deep into the left-field bleachers to give the Blue Jays the lead for good. Jeff Hoffman (5-4) threw one inning of relief and Louis Varland got the final six outs for his 15th save.
Shaw hit his fourth homer of the season in the second after Patrick Corbin surrendered singles to Alex Bregman and Ian Happ to start the inning. Corbin threw 101 pitches in the first 2 2/3 innings and gave up six hits and three walks while striking out four.
Crow-Armstrong had a two-run shot off Lazaro Estrada in the sixth to give the Cubs a 5-0 lead. Varsho tightened the score an inning later with his home run off Trent Thornton.
Recommended for you
Colin Rea was perfect through the first four innings for the Cubs and allowed three hits and struck out three in the first 5 2/3 innings.
Guerrero was back in the Toronto lineup a day after leaving Friday’s game after an awkward swing.
Up next
The three-game series concludes Sunday when Toronto RHP Dylan Cease (4-3, 2.71 ERA) faces LHP Shota Imanaga (4-6, 4.26).
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.