Edwin Encarnacion hits 3 home runs, has 9 RBI, Jays thump Tigers

Tigers 1 Blue Jays 15

It is just too easy for Edwin Encarnacion.

He hit a 3-run homer in the first inning, a 2-run homer in the 6th and a grand slam in the 8th. I don't know that I've ever seen a batter make it look so easy. The 9 RBI ties a team record. And, apparently, Edwin is the first Jay to have 3 grand slams in 1 season. I really wanted him to get another at bat, a solo home would have given him the home run cycle, something I'm sure I've never seen.

He now has a 24 game hitting streak.

That wasn't all we did offensively. We had 18 hits in total, and 7 walks. Russell Martin also had a homer (just one?, boring). Ben Revere had 4 hits. Josh Donaldson and Ryan Goins had 3. Justin Smoak had 2 hits, both doubles. The only Jays starter not to hit was Jose Bautista, and he took 2 walks.

We scored in every inning except for the 5th and 8th.

Drew Hutchison had a very good start, in his first start back after a quick trip to the minors. He went 7 innings, allowed 6 hits, 1 earned, no walks with 7 strikeouts. Nice way to come back. He would have had 7 shutout innings, but Bautista lost a ball in the sun, turning an easy out into a single.

Drew was helped out by some good defense too. Goins made a terrific catch on a foul ball, sliding into foul ground to get it. And he was helped by a strikeout/throw out, with Martin throwing out Nick Castellanos trying to steal. Martin was helped by a great tag from Tulo. The throw was to the wrong side of second but Tulo did a great job getting the tag down. Ben Revere also had a very good catch in left field.

Anthony Gose had an interesting game. With Goins on second, Donaldson hit a fly to fairly deep center, Gose made a good catch, but apparently thought that it was the third out. Goins scored from second on the sac fly. And, in the 8th, down by 14, Gose running from first base, slide late, well wide of the bad and hard into Troy Tulowitzki. That's something you shouldn't be doing in a blow out. In the old days, the next game you'd be taking a pitch up and in.

Jays of the Day: Edwin (.251 WPA), Hutchison (.149) and Revere (.090). No suckage. Martin had the low number at -088, even with the home run.

That was nice of the Jays to have such a great game the day before I go on holiday. Tell you what, Jays, I won't be hurt if you clinch first place before I come back.

We had 1729 comments in the GameThreads. Pikachu led us to the easy win.