BASEBALL: Blue Jays bid to stay perfect in opener vs. winless Rockies

The Toronto Blue Jays are off to a perfect start, winning their first three games of the season, while the Colorado Rockies have dropped all three of their opening contests.

Toronto completed a home sweep of the Oakland Athletics after two dramatic walk-off victories to open the season. The Blue Jays’ pitching staff struck out 50 batters in the series, setting a new Major League record for strikeouts in the first three games of a season. The previous record was 46, set by the Cincinnati Reds against the Detroit Tigers in 2020.

"I think (pitching coach) Pete Walker has a clause in his contract that may have just escalated or triggered," said Blue Jays manager John Schneider. "It's our team's 50-year celebration, so I think 50 strikeouts sounds about right. This (game) is so historical it's kind of cool to be a part of that."

Meanwhile, the Rockies’ three losses to the Miami Marlins were all by one run. Miami completed the sweep Sunday with a 4-3 victory, highlighted by Owen Caissie’s two-run walk-off home run in the ninth inning off Victor Vodnik.

"Listen, I think the boys are playing good," Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. "We were right in these ballgames. We could have won all three of these ballgames. We have, what, 159 left to go? If we keep playing like that, we are going to win a lot of ballgames this year."

The Blue Jays are set to debut Cody Ponce in their series opener. The 31-year-old right-hander, who was named MVP in Korea's KBO League after a 17-1 season with a 1.89 ERA, signed with Toronto as a free agent in December. Ponce last pitched in the majors for the Pittsburgh Pirates, posting a 1-7 record with a 5.86 ERA in 2020-21 before moving to Japan and South Korea. He has faced the Rockies once in 2021, allowing three earned runs in three relief innings.

"I think that we have a great starting staff, great bullpen staff with (Jeff) Hoffman as the back-end guy, too," Ponce said during spring training. "But I have a lot to learn. I don't know much, so it's been a while since I've been up here. I'm just going to pick everybody's brains and try to have the most success I can." He was 2-0 with a 0.66 ERA in five spring training starts.

The Rockies will counter with right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano (10-10, 4.64 ERA in 2025), who will make his debut for Colorado on Monday after pitching for the Baltimore Orioles last year. The 36-year-old was 0-1 with a 3.68 ERA in three 2025 starts against Toronto.

Sugano pitched four scoreless innings for Japan in the World Baseball Classic and was 0-0 with a 2.45 ERA in two spring training starts. Last season, he allowed 33 home runs with Baltimore and aims to improve in that area.

"I want to decrease that amount," Sugano said through an interpreter at spring training. "At the same time, I don't want to be afraid to throw strikes, so I'm making sure I have the mentality of attacking hitters. Those will be my two main objectives. I've been told that at Coors Field, the off-speed stuff doesn't move as much compared to other stadiums. But at the same time, I want to improve my splitter, making sure I execute it really well."

—Field Level Media/Reuters