Another historic moment puts Blue Jays in MLB record books

Toronto badly needed that punch. The Blue Jays came into the finale in Arizona dragging through a brutal skid, then blew the game open before the Diamondbacks could settle in.

This was not a cheap rally built on 1 mistake. Toronto sent 12 hitters to the plate, stacked up 8 hits, and forced Arizona starter Ryne Nelson out before the inning was done.

The tone got set right away. The Blue Jays opened the afternoon with 7 straight hits before making an out, tying another franchise record to start a game.

Okamoto delivered the swing that changed the inning from hot start to full collapse. With the bases loaded, he drove a 2-run double off the left-field wall and pushed Toronto ahead by 5.

That hit mattered even more because the Blue Jays had been empty in those spots. Sportsnet noted it was Toronto's first extra-base hit of the season with the bases loaded and that it snapped a 1-for-20 stretch in that situation.

Nathan Lukes kept the inning alive after that, collecting his second hit of the frame and ripping a bases-loaded double that finished Nelson's day. That is the kind of lower-order damage this lineup has not given Schneider nearly enough.

This is why the inning landed with so much force. The Blue Jays did not just score early. They tied the franchise record for first-inning runs, matching explosions last reached on September 26, 2007 and July 14, 2011.

And it came at the right time. Toronto had been stuck in a major slump, so this was more than a fun burst against a shaky starter. It was a lineup card finally pushing back.

Schneider's club has spent too much of April waiting for one clean inning to become 3 crooked numbers. On Sunday, the Blue Jays got the whole thing at once and made Arizona play from behind before the game had even breathed.

Okamoto is the name that should stick to this one. Big innings need a swing in the middle, and his bases-loaded double gave Toronto the thunder that had been missing for days.

But Lukes deserves real room in the story, too. Battling through vertigo issues lately, he still came up with 2 hits in the first and gave the bottom half some life when the Blue Jays needed length.

For one inning, Toronto looked nothing like the club that had been sliding through the week. It looked dangerous, relentless, and loud.

That does not erase the bigger problems around this team. But an 8-run first inning, a franchise tie, and a middle-order swing from Kazuma Okamoto gave the Blue Jays something they have not had enough of lately: a game they grabbed before anyone could take it from them.