The Toronto Blue Jays are on a mission to get back to the World Series in 2025 and that was fully evident in the first series of the season against the Athletics.

After winning in walk-off fashion in each of the first two games of the series, the Jays made it a little easier on Sunday, taking a 5-2 victory to complete the three-game sweep. 

Toronto is now 3-0 while the A's are 0-3.

Home runs by newcomers Jesus Sanchez and Kazuma Okamoto helped the Jays earn the victory, but once again, the pitching was dominant.

Eric Lauer, who is only in the rotation because of injuries to Jose Berrios, Shane Bieber and Trey Yesavage, struck out nine batters over 5.1 innings. He surrendered two earned runs on three hits, only walking one.

Braydon Fisher, Tommy Nance, Mason Fluharty and Jeff Hoffman combined for six more strikeouts over the final 3.2 innings, giving Toronto 15 for the day and 50 for the series.

According to Sportsnet Stats, that's the most ever strikeouts in a three-game series by the Blue Jays. It surpassed the previous high of 45 against the Mariners in April of 2023.

Lauer's performance followed dominant outings from Kevin Gausman (11 strikeouts) and Dylan Cease (12). 

A free agent at the end of the season, Lauer is an eight-year veteran of the San Diego Padres, Milwaukee Brewers, and Blue Jays. He's also pitched in Korea (2024).

Cody Ponce will be the next Blue Jays hurler to take the mound when he pitches on Monday night at home against the Colorado Rockies. Ponce also starred in Korea, winning the KBO's MVP last season after going 17-1.

Offensively, Lauer was supported by the home runs from Sanchez and Okamoto, as well as George Springer. It was the first home run of the year for each of them. Okamoto was signed to a four-year, $60 million deal this offseason. He starred in Japan's NPB and had six seasons of 30 homers or more.

Toronto had six hits on the day, with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. registering two of them.

The Blue Jays and Rockies will open the series on Monday night at 7:07 p.m. ET. Colorado, who was the worst team in baseball in 2025, is 0-3 so far this season. Right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano will start for Colorado. He played last season with the Baltimore Orioles, so the Jays are certainly familiar.

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