Canada's Joey Votto homers in 1st game with Blue Jays, helping club to pre-season tie

Joey Votto homered in his first at-bat in the opening inning and the Toronto Blue Jays played to a 5-5 draw against the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday in pre-season action in Clearwater, Fla.

It was one of two split-squad games on the day for the Blue Jays, who defeated the Minnesota Twins 9-4 in Dunedin, Fla.

Votto, from the Toronto suburb of Etobicoke, Ont., made his first appearance in a Jays uniform after signing a minor league deal with a spring training invite on March 9. The 40-year-old joined Toronto after 17 years with Cincinnati, where he was a six-time all-star and earned National League MVP honours in 2010.

"I felt like this was the swing I was chasing," Votto said according to MLB.com. "The pull homers are a bit fake. They're a bit of an illusion.

"If you ask any really, really good hitter, keeping the ball in the centre of the field or the opposite-field side with some power, with some line, it's hard to fail with that. It's hard to feel dissatisfied. I'm ecstatic about that swing."

First pitch swinging