Vladmir Guerrero Jr. finally has hit his first home run of the year at Rogers Centre.
The Toronto Blue Jays’ star first baseman crushed an offering from Oakland A’s starter James Kaprielian over the wall in left-centre in the third inning for a three-run blast to give the home side a 4-3 lead on Friday.
The homer, on a 1-2 pitch high in the strike zone with two out, keyed a four-run third for the Blue Jays after Toronto fell behind 3-0 in the first against the worst team in baseball.
The no-doubter had an exit velocity of 110 m.p.h. and travelled 434 feet. The homer was Guerrero’s first in 154 plate appearances at home.
Guerrero, whose power numbers have taken a dip this year, now has 10 homers on the year.
It took until home game No. 33 for the two-time all-star to hit his first tater of the year at the reconfigured Rogers Centre.
The home-road split is odd — last year, Guerrero hit 19 of his 32 home runs in Toronto.
Friday’s blast was also Guerrero’s first home run anywhere since June 4 in New York against the Mets.
Guerrero snapped a 13-game streak without an extra-base hit earlier this week with a double against the Miami Marlins.
But while his power figures have been down, Guerrero has maintained a solid batting average — .274 after the home run, his same average as last year.
