Toronto, ON – Edwin Encarnacion was a triple shy of the cycle and drove in four runs and the Toronto Blue Jays convincingly completed a three-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles with a 13-5 victory, matching a franchise record with their 11th straight win.
Encarnacion hit a two-run homer, Colby Rasmus hit a solo shot, and Jose Bautista drove in three runs for the Blue Jays, who equaled a franchise-best winning streak set in 1987 and tied in 1998.
"We always figured it was just a matter of time before we started playing better and it lasted longer than we expected, but that's all behind us now," Toronto manager John Gibbons said.
Josh Johnson (1-2) earned his first win as a Blue Jay in his eighth start of the season, allowing four runs on seven hits with five strikeouts over six- plus frames.
Freddy Garcia (3-5) struggled through just 2 1/3 innings, allowing seven runs on seven hits and two walks in the setback. Ryan Flaherty hit two homers and drove in three runs for the Orioles, who have dropped four of six.
Garcia retired the first two batters he faced via groundouts, but allowed consecutive singles and then walked Rasmus to load the bases. The Jays scored first as the right-hander plunked J.P. Arencibia.
Emilio Bonifacio and Encarnacion helped the hosts add to their lead in the second. Bonifacio kicked things off with a bunt single, then stole second and advanced to third on a sacrifice. Melky Cabrera then came through with a sacrifice fly to center to make it 2-0.
Garcia walked Bautista and Encarnacion followed by launching the first pitch he saw into the left-field bleachers for a 4-0 advantage.
"I'm not surprised by this, I know this team is good and I know we can do it," added Encarnacion.
The offensive outburst continued into the third as the Blue Jays broke open the contest with five runs.
Maicer Izturis and Bonifacio smacked back-to-back RBI doubles to make it 6-0. T.J. McFarland took the hill for the O's and gave up three more runs. Cabrera added a run-scoring single and Encarnacion provided a two-run double to round out the scoring and make it 9-0.
Baltimore found the scoreboard in the sixth thanks to Nick Markakis' RBI double and Bonifacio's fielding error, which scored Markakis. Flaherty's two- run shot in the seventh briefly cut the deficit to 9-4, before the Jays tacked on four more runs in the home half.
"This series, they came out and they were competitive," Baltimore outfielder Adam Jones said. "They whooped us. But we'll see them again very, very soon."
Game Notes
Garcia is 9-9 over 22 career appearances versus the Blue Jays ... The Blue Jays last won 11 straight from June 2-13, 1987 and from Aug. 27-Sept. 7, 1998 ... Toronto was 27-36 before the winning streak ... Baltimore allowed a season-high in runs ... Markakis finished with two doubles ... It was Flaherty's first career multi-homer game.
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