Encarnacion, Blue Jays down Rays
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Toronto, ON (SportsNetwork.com) - Edwin Encarnacion hit a solo homer among his three hits and scored twice as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Tampa Bay Rays, 10-5, in the opener of a three-game set on Monday.
Dioner Navarro and Steve Tolleson hit consecutive home runs in the fourth and Melky Cabrera went 3-for-3 with three RBI for the Blue Jays, who have won seven straight games and 10 of their last 11.
Drew Hutchison (4-3) earned the win despite giving up five runs on seven hits with four walks across five innings.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Nothing was good, nothing was sharp," Hutchison said.
Desmond Jennings and James Loney both homered and brought in two runs for Tampa Bay, which had its four-game win streak snapped. David DeJesus also homered in the loss.
"They just put the heavy gloves on and beat us up tonight," Rays manager Joe Maddon said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Erik Bedard (2-3) was tagged with the loss after allowing 13 hits and eight runs in four-plus frames.
Jose Reyes got aboard with a bunt to lead off the first for the Blue Jays. Cabrera doubled off the center-field wall to plate Reyes and Jose Bautista's liner to right brought Cabrera home.
DeJesus crushed a 1-0 fastball to right for the Rays to make it a 2-1 game in the third. Evan Longoria and Matt Joyce both walked and Jennings singled to load the bases. Loney's sacrifice fly to left brought home Longoria to tie the game at two. Hutchison intentionally walked Wil Myers to load the bases again, but got Cole Figueroa to ground out to escape the jam.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Navarro led off the fourth by stroking a solo shot over the wall in left and Tolleson belted the next pitch out left to give the Blue Jays a 4-2 lead.
Kevin Pillar reached base with a single and moved up to second on Anthony Gose's sacrifice bunt. Two batters later, Cabrera's single to right brought Pillar around to give Toronto a 5-2 lead.
The Rays answered with back-to-back blasts in the top of the fifth. Joyce doubled on a line drive to center before Jennings clubbed a fastball to right- center field and Loney homered to right-center to even the game at five.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It was all Toronto from there. Brett Lawrie's double down the left-field line drove in Encarnacion, who doubled and took third on a wild pitch to break the tie in the home half. Navarro scored Lawrie with a single up the middle, chasing Bedard from the contest.
Alex Colome took the mound and struggled as well. Juan Francisco walked and two batters later, Gose singled to load the bases. Navarro scored after Colome walked Reyes and Cabrera's sac fly brought in Francisco.
Encarnacion led off the bottom of the sixth with a solo shot to left to stake Toronto to a 10-5 advantage.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Game Notes
The Blue Jays have homered in nine straight games ... Toronto has won six of the last 10 contests between the two teams ... Bedard has lost his last five decisions spanning nine starts against the Blue Jays ... Encarnacion has nine home runs in his last 11 games. He has homered 13 times in May, breaking Bautista's club record (12, 2010) for home runs in the month of May.