Encarnacion, Bautista lead Blue Jays over Diamondbacks

Published 5:12 pm Sunday, May 23, 2010

PHOENIX — Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista each hit two-run homers, and the Toronto Blue Jays avoided a three-game sweep with a 12-4 rout of the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday.

The major league leaders in home runs brought their team total to 76, and the Blue Jays established a season high for hits with 17. They had 36 for the series and left the desert after belting 10 home runs in the three games.

Encarnacion hit three Friday and added one Saturday to go with his home run Sunday. Manager Cito Gaston thought about giving him Sunday off, but wisely put him in the lineup. He’s 7 for 19 with six homers and 11 RBIs since returning from the disabled list May 17.

Bautista finished with four RBIs, including his two run homer during a five-run fifth inning that staked Shawn Marcum to a big lead. Bautista also had a two-run single in the third.

After missing most of last season while recovering from Tommy John surgery, Marcum (4-1) turned in another strong performance, allowing three runs on six hits in five innings. He struck out eight and helped his own cause with an RBI double in the fourth, his first big league hit.

John McDonald drove in a pair of runs, and Jose Molina and Adam Lind also had RBIs for Toronto.

Diamondbacks infielder Tony Abreu left the game in the fifth with a sprained left wrist, which he hurt when Molina slid into his left arm trying to take second base on a hit.

The Diamondbacks scored single runs off Marcum in the first, fourth and fifth innings, on RBI singles by Justin Upton, Chris Young and Augie Ojeda. Abreu, Stephen Drew and Conor Jackson all doubled and scored for Arizona, which had its four-game win streak snapped.

The Diamondbacks’ four doubles gave them 22 in the past five games. Young added a solo home run in the eighth, his seventh of the season.

Notes: Gaston gave OF Vernon Wells and IF Alex Gonzalez their first day off the season. The two had played in all 45 of Toronto’s games entering Sunday. … Kris Benson pitches Monday on a rehab start in Albuquerque for Triple-A Reno. Arizona manager A.J. Hinch said Benson (right shoulder) will go four innings or about 60 pitches. He’ll likely have at least one more rehab start, even if everything goes well.