Encarnacion on fire: Blue Jays top Orioles again

Make it two in a row for the Toronto Blue Jays over the Baltimore Orioles

One day after walking off the Orioles with an opposite-field home run, Edwin Encarnacion was at it again.

The Blue Jays designated hitter slugged two home runs and a double, driving in five and walking twice as Toronto battled for a 11-6 victory over Baltimore on Saturday afternoon at the Rogers Centre.

Encarnacion’s second jack of the night came in the bottom of the eighth to give the Blue Jays some breathing room, and was immediately followed by a home run to left field off the bat of Michael Saunders.

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Sacrifice flies were the Blue Jays’ weapon of choice, with RBIs coming that way from Saunders, Devon Travis, Josh Donaldson, and Russell Martin. Both Kevin Pillar and Darwin Barney contributed a pair of hits while Ryan Goins tripled before being subbed out for Travis.

J.A. Happ got the start for the Blue Jays and worked seven innings, but fell victim to the long ball three times. Happ did limit the damage to four earned runs on eight hits, striking out five without walking a batter.

Joe Biagini was first out in relief but ran into some uncharacteristic troubles, failing to record an out and getting tagged with a pair of runs.

Gavin Floyd calmed the waters by taking over for a scoreless inning of work before handing off to the veteran Jason Grilli, who closed out the game in the ninth to remain strong since his arrival on the Blue Jays. After recording the final out of the game on a strikeout, Grilli let loose with a playoff-level fist pump.

Toronto has the chance to take the series 3-1 tomorrow in the finale, where Aaron Sanchez (5-1, 2.91 ERA) is scheduled to face the struggling Ubaldo Jimenez (3-6, 6.21 ERA).