Guerrero ends dry streak with mammoth homer vs. Braves

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit his first home run of the season on Wednesday, crushing an off-speed pitch from Atlanta Braves righty Spencer Strider into the second deck.

Guerrero worked the count to full, fouling off a high fast ball in the sixth pitch of the at-bat before unleashing on a slider in. The 26-year-old admired his home run before jogging around the bases.

That ended a 27-game homerless streak for Guerrero, the second-longest of his career, and pushed the Toronto Blue Jays to a 2-0 lead in the sixth inning.

Guerrero's lack of power has coincided with a number of Blue Jays teammates, as the team entered play on Wednesday tied for second-worst in the majors with just 11 home runs through 18 games.

The slow start mirrored Guerrero's start to the 2024 campaign a year ago, as the slugger tallied only two home runs through the first 34 games of the year.

He picked it up in a big way through the remainder of the year though, finishing with 30 home runs and a .323 batting average - good for second-best in the American League. Guerrero finished sixth in AL MVP voting a year ago.

Guerrero made Blue Jays history earlier in April when he agreed to a 14-year contract extension worth $500 million - the biggest contract ever awarded to a Blue Jays player, and third-biggest in total value in MLB history.

While the power hasn't shown up for Guerrero yet, he's still been rather productive at the plate, hitting .275 with six runs and eight runs batted in to open the year.

For his career, Guerrero has hit .287 with 161 home runs and 517 runs batted in across 838 games played with the Blue Jays.