Encarnacion’s walk-off wins it for Jays in 12th

Edwin Encarnacion bid farewell to the Rogers Centre crowd for another season in style on Thursday night.

Encarnacion hit a walk-off home run off reliever Garrett Richards to lift the Toronto Blue Jays to a 4-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels in the bottom of the 12th.

Shawn Camp pitched a hitless inning to pick up his fifth win of the year and Jose Bautista went 3-for-4 with a run and a double as fans chanted “MVP” during his final two at-bats.

The Angels fell to 85-71 and are now three games behind the Boston Red Sox for the American League wild card spot with six games left on the schedule.

Jays starter Henderson Alvarez went seven innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and struck out four.

The Angels’ Ervin Santana pitched six innings and gave up one earned run over six hits, striking out five, however, he also issued five walks.

Third baseman Alberto Callaspo opened the scoring with a homer to right in the top of the second to give Los Angeles the 1-0 lead.

Toronto got the momentum going in the fifth when Bautista tied it up with a RBI single after Eric Thames hit a two-out double to left field.

Los Angeles scored a pair in the top of the sixth to re-take the lead.

Erick Aybar led off the inning with a single and Howie Kendrick followed up with an RBI triple. After Bobby Abreu grounded out to Mike McCoy, Torii Hunter grounded as well, only Kendrick took off for home this time and McCoy opted for the sure out at first, allowing Kendrick to score.

A late Jays rally in the bottom of the seventh tied the game.

Thames hit a leadoff homer to right. Bobby Cassevah came in to relieve Santana and walked Bautista. Adam Lind smacked a single off first baseman Mark Trumbo, advancing Bautista to third, but Lind tried for second and was called out on a questionable call.

The Jays tempers cooled and the dugout went into a flurry when Cassevah threw a wild pitch, allowing Bautista to steal home and tie the game. Encarnacion ringed a double off the wall to centre, ending Cassevah’s night early.

Hisanori Takahashi entered the game and got the next two out.

Note: Toronto improved to 11-0 at home in extra innings  … The next home game for the Jays is April 9, 2012 versus the Boston Red Sox after opening the season with a three-game road trip against the Cleveland Indians … Attendance was 22,343 for a total of 1,817,667 for the year, up from 1,495,482 last season … Toronto heads to Tampa for a three-game set with the Rays and then wrap up the season against the Chicago White Sox.

About this article

By: Jonathan Brazeau
Posted: Sep 22 2011 11:11 pm
Edition:
Filed under: Baseball Sports
Topics: