Athletics Fall to Blue Jays despite Langeliers Heroics

Kazuma Okamoto scoring the winning run for the Blue Jays against the Athletics on Opening Day 2026

March 27, 2026

Blue Jays 3, Athletics 2

Shea Langeliers went 3-for-4 with two home runs, but it wasn’t enough as the Toronto Blue Jays walked off the Athletics 3–2 on a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth Friday night.

Blue Jays starting pitcher Kevin Gausman and three relievers combined to hold the rest of the Athletics to a combined 0-for-26 with two walks and a double-play groundout. Gausman himself was a puzzle the Athletics could not solve, holding them to one run on one hit with no walks and 11 strikeouts across six innings. Athletics starter Luis Severino missed a quality start by one inning, allowing two runs on three hits across five innings. He added three walks and three strikeouts.

Athletics – Blue Jays Game Summary

The Athletics opened the scoring with Langeliers’ first homer, a screaming 375-foot, 105.2-mph liner to the Blue Jays bullpen in left-center. In the fifth, the Blue Jays took the lead on a defensive miscommunication in the outfield. With one out, Kazuma Okamoto on third, and Ernie Clement on second, Andres Gimenez cracked a drive to the gap in left-center. Left fielder Tyler Soderstrom and center fielder Denzel Clarke, both on their horses, tracked it. It appeared that either could have caught it, but they both stopped running at the exact same time. The ball sailed over Soderstrom’s head and bounded slowly toward the wall, rolling nearly 80 feet before he ran it down on the warning track. He corralled it in time to prevent an inside-the-park home run, but both runners scored to make the score 2–1.

Langeliers homered off Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman with one out in the top of the ninth to tie the game at two. But with two outs in the bottom half, Okamoto singled before Clement doubled — Clement’s second of the game. That brought up Gimenez, and his single to right gave the Blue Jays an emotional walk-off win.

What Went Right for the Athletics

Shea Langeliers

Langeliers’ three hits — two of which were homers — dragged the Athletics to the finish line.

Middle Relief

Scott Barlow and Hogan Harris combined for three innings of scoreless relief, keeping the Athletics in the game. Barlow allowed one hit across 1 2/3 innings, and Harris allowed one walk in 1 1/3. Both baserunners came in the seventh inning, Harris entering with two outs and walking the first batter on four pitches. But Harris retired George Springer on a ground-ball force play at second to quell the potential rally.

Starting Pitching

No, it wasn’t quite a Quality Start in the official sense. Yes, Gausman outdid him. But for Severino to hold the reigning AL champions to two runs is no small feat. It kept the Athletics in the game and put them one productive offensive inning away from a win.

What Went Wrong for the Athletics

Punchless Offense

Credit must go to Gausman, as well as Blue Jays relievers Louis Varland and Tyler Rogers. But for everyone not named Shea Langeliers to go a combined 0-for-26 with two walks, 11 strikeouts, and a double-play groundout is not a winning formula.

The Cross-up on the Triple

No need to belabor it, but that triple was the turning point of the game. The way both fielders approached the ball says they probably couldn’t hear each other but knew the other one was charging hard. Either way, the ball got through to score two runs, where a worst-case scenario if that ball was caught would likely have been a 1–1 tie with two outs and a runner on second.

The Ninth Inning

Justin Sterner started strong in the ninth, retiring Alejandro Kirk and Daulton Varsho on weak-contact groundouts. But he did not retire another batter afterwards. Okamoto punched a 1–2 fastball off the outer half into right for an opposite-field single. Clement swung on a first-pitch cutter over the outer half, hitting a Baltimore Chop down the third-base line. The ball bounced so high over third baseman Max Muncy, in at the edge of the dirt, that no fielder had a chance. By the time Soderstrom could run it down, the Blue Jays had runners on second and third for Gimenez. On 1–2, Gimenez rolled a grounder up the middle an inch or two past a diving Jeff McNeil to end the game.

Quick Hits

The last time Jeff Hoffman pitched from this mound in a game that counted, he yielded a game-tying solo home run in the ninth inning. That came in Game Seven of the 2025 World Series. With one out, light-hitting Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Miguel Rojas laced a line-drive solo homer to break hearts all across Canada.

Langeliers is the second consecutive Athletics player with a multi-homer game in the season opener. Tyler Soderstrom also hit two homers on Opening Day in 2025, doing so against the Seattle Mariners. Four Athletics have done so in franchise history, with Langeliers being the first catcher. The others were left fielder Khris Davis (2017 vs. the Los Angeles Angels) and first baseman Jason Giambi (2000 vs. the Detroit Tigers).

Looking Ahead

Hoffman grabbed a blown save-win combo as Sterner took the loss.

The Athletics (0–1) and Blue Jays (1–0) play again Saturday in the second game of their three-game set. Lefty Jeffrey Springs (11–11, 4.11 ERA in 2025) will start for the Athletics against Blue Jays right-hander Dylan Cease (8–12, 4.55 ERA in 2025 for the San Diego Padres). First pitch will be at 12:07 pm Pacific.