Blue Jays–Diamondbacks takeaways: Encarnacion closes in on milestone

Edwin Encarnacion hit the longest home run by the Blue Jays this season at 471 feet as the Toronto crushed to Arizona Diamondbacks 10-4 on Wednesday to complete the sweep.

After a series in Oakland that didn’t quite go as expected, the Toronto Blue Jays got into gear in Phoenix, sweeping the Arizona Diamondbacks in a two-game set.

There were sparkling performances at the plate and on the mound—including a solid outing from Marcus Stroman—and the team gained valuable ground in a tight division race.

Here’s what stood out in the Jays’ penultimate interleague series of the season:

Getting closer
The Blue Jays gained a game in the American League East standings thanks to their back-to-back wins at Chase Field. They’re now just one game back of first. The Red Sox likewise won two games in a row, defeating the San Francisco Giants to claim the top spot, while the Baltimore Orioles lost two games to the Yankees, slipping to half a game back of first.

As the season stretches on, the race for first place should continue to be a close battle. With the non-waiver trade deadline quickly approaching, it will be interesting to see which AL East teams, if any, make moves. The Red Sox placed reliever Koji Uehara on the disabled list on Wednesday with a pectoral strain. They traded for Diamondbacks reliever Brad Ziegler earlier this month, but with Uehara out, Boston might go shopping for another bullpen arm.

The 300 level
Blue Jays hitters have combined for 6.33 runs per game so far in July, good for second in the league behind only the Angels. Josh Donaldson has put up some particularly gaudy numbers, earning an OPS of 1.232 over that span. In only nine at-bats against Arizona, Donaldson recorded five hits and nine total bases while scoring three times and driving in four runs.

Meanwhile, Edwin Encarnacion continues to rake and heads into the Jays’ upcoming home stand just one double shy of his 300th. Jose Bautista—pending his return—sits only two home runs from a 300-level milestone of his own.

Aaron Sanchez and the welcome dilemma
Aaron Sanchez continues to make life difficult for anyone campaigning for his transfer to the bullpen. Going into his start on Tuesday, Sanchez had allowed more than two runs only once since the start of June. He continued to impress against the Diamondbacks, allowing only one run in seven innings of work.

Sanchez’s seventh inning on Tuesday pushed him to 125.1 IP on the year, eight innings shy of his career high in a single season. (Sanchez pitched 133.1 innings across double-A, triple-A and the Blue Jays in 2014.)

Expect continued hand-wringing over Sanchez’s role as he enters uncharted territory following his next one-to-two starts.

Stroman gets his groove back
After struggling in Oakland to begin the second half, Marcus Stroman’s bounce-back outing in Phoenix marks his third quality start in his last four trips to the mound and gives further reason for optimism within the ranks of team #HDMH.

Allowing only one run over eight innings, Stroman threw two-thirds of his pitches for strikes and kept the ball on the ground, notching 12 groundouts alongside six strikeouts.

Even accounting for his rough outing against the A’s, Stroman’s ERA for the month sits at 3.29, easily his best monthly mark this season.

Reinforcements on the way
After a good showing against the Diamondbacks there’s more good news for Blue Jays fans: Jose Bautista began his rehab assignment on Wednesday with the single-A Dunedin Blue Jays. The 35-year-old homered in his first at-bat; he could return to the big club as early as Monday, when the Jays host the Padres.

Meanwhile, Marco Estrada is set to return even sooner. The 33-year-old right-hander last pitched on July 2 versus Cleveland. He was eligible to come off the DL on July 18, but the Blue Jays chose to sit him out to avoid the perils of interleague play. Estrada is scheduled to start on Friday versus the Seattle Mariners at Rogers Centre.

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