Blue Jays slugger Edwin Encarnacion tied an American League record for home runs in the month of May by hitting a pair of dingers in his team's 8-6 loss to the Royals on Thursday in Toronto.
MLB roundup: Edwin Encarnacion ties AL record, Buster Posey sits with back injury
Encarnacion can now be mentioned in the same breath as Mickey Mantle.
Tom Szczerbowski
Encarnacion hit both homers off of Kansas City ace James Shields, who has been one of the league's top starters in 2014. After taking Shields deep in the in the fourth inning for his 15th homer of the month, Encarnacion tied Mickey Mantle's AL record with this blast in the sixth:
Encarnacion has two days left to catch Barry Bonds, who holds the MLB record for homers in a single May with 17 in 2001.
Also of note in this game was a rare play involving Royals designated hitter Billy Butler, who hit what appeared to be a one-out single into right field in the ninth. Or not:
Billy Butler grounded out, 9-3.
— YCPB (@cantpredictball) May 30, 2014 Posey sidelined with back injury
Giants catcher Buster Posey was not in the lineup for the team's series opener against the Cardinals on Thursday due to a flare-up of his recent back injury, according to MLB.com's Chris Haft.
Posey dealt with nerve irritation in his lower back during the Giants' series against the Rockies last week and hasn't hit particularly well since then, going 3-for-25 with no walks and six strikeouts in his last seven games.
Though Posey has been above average this year in terms of OPS+, the 27-year-old star backstop is on pace for career lows in several offensive categories. Most notably, he’s hitting about 50 points below his career average and is producing extra-base hits in only 5.1 percent of his plate appearances, compared to 8.4 percent last year and 10.5 percent in 2012.
Padres will host Mexican League game
For the second time ever, and the first time since 2006, the Padres will host a Mexican League game at Petco Park.
The team announced on Thursday that the Tijuana Toros and Mexico City Diablos will play a regular season game roughly 30 minutes after the completion of the Padres' game against the Braves on Aug. 3.
Tijuana, which is about a 30-minute drive from San Diego, boasts a roster that includes 10 former major leaguers, including Russell Branyan and Jose Contreras. The Mexico City squad is led by John Lindsey, who is hitting .313/.413/.680 with 15 home runs. Lindsey broke into professional baseball with the Rockies organization in 1995 before finally reaching the majors as a 33-year-old with the Dodgers in 2010.
Thursday scores
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