Toronto may be a hockey town, but the Blue Jays are doing their best to make the Canadian city a baseball town again, for the first time in two decades. On Saturday night, it was both. Edwin Encarnacion continued his red-hot August with three home runs in a win over the Tigers, and was showered with hats on the field for his "hat trick" of home runs.
Edwin Encarnacion hits 3 home runs, rewarded with hats from Blue Jays fans
Edwin Encarnacion..that is all!! wow what a day he had..3 HRs and 9 RBIs!! Even has the hats to prove it! pic.twitter.com/4qET2tziiS
— David Price (@DAVIDprice14) August 30, 2015
Encarnacion tied a Blue Jays franchise record with nine RBI, and extended his hitting streak to 24 games, during which the Blue Jays designated hitters is batting .400/.462/.856 with 10 home runs, 11 doubles and 34 RBI.
But he’s not alone on offense for Toronto. The Blue Jays scored 15 in their win over the Tigers on Saturday, the 21st time in 2015 they have scored at least 10 runs. No other team has more than 12 such games.
Toronto leads baseball with 5.5 runs per game this season, three-quarters of a run per game better than the next-best team (Yankees). That high-powered offense has helped fuel the Blue Jays' 22-5 run over the last month, rising up from a game under .500 to up 1½ games in the American League East.
Not bad for a franchise that hasn't won more than 88 games nor made the playoffs since winning back-to-back World Series in 1992-1993.
Maybe Toronto is a baseball town after all.
