BALTIMORE – The outburst has been building for Edwin Encarnacion. Since his batting average cratered at .173 on April 27 with a paltry OPS of .585, the Toronto Blue Jays slugger has steadily regained his stroke, collecting at least a hit in all but two games, reaching via walk in both of those contests.
Still, the power, at least by Encarnacion’s prodigious standards, was slow in coming with just a homer and four doubles over that span, eventually arriving in a big way with two pivotal opposite field blows before things got really one-sided in a 10-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday.
Consider that he also walked and scored the Blue Jays’ first run of the night in the fourth, on a Chris Colabello single that helped eat into a 2-0 deficit, and Encarnacion was in the middle of everything.
"I’m happy to be feeling better at the plate the last couple of weeks, the power is there and I know it’s going to come," he said, adding later: "I know when I start hitting and getting hot, we’re going to keep winning a lot of games."
That Encarnacion delivered a multi-homer game is no surprise – it’s the 19th time he’s done it in the majors – but that both went to right field is a shocker, given that he’d only gone oppo-taco six times before in his entire career, according to Baseball-Reference.com.
His solo shot to right-centre field in the sixth tied the game 2-2 and then in the seventh, a two-run drive down the right-field line capped a four-run outburst that helped ensure a terrific outing by Mark Buehrle, perhaps his best of the season so far, didn’t go to waste.
"I’m not a guy that’s going to hit 20 homers oppo, I’m not that kind of guy," said Encarnacion. "It’s good I got two opposite homers. For me, that’s my timing getting better and getting right. When they start to come in now, it’s going to be a lot better for me. …
"In this game you’ve got to make adjustments. If they keep throwing you away, you’ve got to try to let them know that you can hit it that way. That’s a good message tonight. They’ve been throwing me a lot of pitches outside, I hit two homers oppo, and that was part of the adjustment I had to make."
Josh Donaldson played his part, too, punching a 3-0 Chris Tillman pitch up the middle for the go-ahead run in the seventh, and he added a two-run shot in a four-run eighth that turned this one into a laugher, as the Blue Jays improved to 6-2 against the Orioles this season.
Using the entire field comes naturally to Donaldson, who along with Orioles third baseman Manny Machado had some fun before the game with Encarnacion about his pull-happy tendencies.
"That’s why I was giving him a hard time in the dugout," said Donaldson. "If he opens up that side of the field who knows what he’s capable of. He’s already one of the top power hitters in the game and that’s just adding another element."
Jose Bautista, meanwhile, offered some fresh validation for the Blue Jays’ decision to continue using him at DH while his right shoulder keeps him from throwing.
He just missed home runs on deep drives in the fourth and fifth, before hitting a ground-rule double that helped fuel the rally in the seventh.
"It keeps him in the lineup and he’s really one of the centre-pieces of our lineup," manager John Gibbons said prior to the game. "We’d rather keep him there. I would, anyway."
The late offence might not have been possible without the strong work of Buehrle, who allowed a two-run single to Jimmy Parades in the third that opened the scoring but precious little else over six innings in winning his second straight start after consecutive worrisome outings.
His most impressive work may have come in the sixth, just after Encarnacion tied the game. Machado led off the bottom half with a double but Buehrle recovered to strike out Paredes, and after an intentional walk to Adam Jones, inducing a 4-6-3 double play by Delmon Young.
"I always say I want to be good but I also want to be lucky because I got Delmon Young 0-2, Russ (Martin) called a fastball inside and I said, ‘Throw this so far up and in to move him off the plate,’ and it moved back over the middle and he grounded out to second base for a double play," said Buehrle. "That’s a prime example there, I’d rather be lucky than good."
Ryan Goins deserves credit for making sure it happened, as he took Steve Tolleson’s relay, cut across the bag and threw against his momentum to first to end the frame.
"I put as much on the throw as I could and got out of the way," said Goins. "Adam Jones is coming in trying to get you, he’s trying to break up the double play so they can have a big inning. The biggest thing is trying to clear the bag and get it as quick as I could."
The play became all the more important when the Blue Jays opened things up in the seventh and eighth, turning what had been a tense and tight contest into a rout.
Encarnacion’s power can make that happen, and if he’s beginning one of his torrid streaks, similar outcomes should come about more often.