Blue Jays 3, Athletics 1
Edwin Encarnacion homered for the 12th time in May and J.A. Happ struck out seven over a season-high seven scoreless innings as red-hot Toronto completed its first home sweep of Oakland since 2008.
Happ (4-1) collected his fourth victory in five starts, yielding only four hits and three walks before Casey Janssen worked a flawless ninth inning for his seventh save. Jose Reyes finished with two hits for the Blue Jays, who have won a season-high six in a row and 11 of their last 13 contests.
Drew Pomeranz (4-2) did not allow a hit through 3 1/3 innings, but was pulled after recording only two more outs and was charged with two runs on five hits and four walks. Josh Donaldson went deep off reliever Dustin McGowan to open the eighth and halt Toronto’s bid for its eighth shutout.
Pomeranz extended his scoreless-innings streak as a starter to 18 1/3 innings, but Encarnacion ended the run when he tucked a 2-2 fastball just inside the foul pole in left for his team-leading 14th homer. The 25-year-old southpaw benefited from an inning-ending double play after allowing the next three batters to reach, but ran into more trouble in the fifth when he was pulled after loading the bases.
Jim Johnson came on in relief and immediately surrendered Jose Bautista’s ground-ball single past shortstop Jed Lowrie to score Kevin Pillar, but Yoenis Cespedes’ perfect throw from mid-left field beat Reyes at home to minimize the damage. However, the Blue Jays added another run anyway in the seventh when Reyes singled and scored on Bautista’s sacrifice fly.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Toronto manager John Gibbons was ejected by home plate umpire Mark Carlson in the bottom of the fifth for arguing a replay following a fielder’s choice to shallow center by Encarnacion that resulted in Bautista getting called out on a close play at second. … Janssen has converted 23 consecutive save chances since Aug. 4, 2013. … The Blue Jays have tallied an extra-base hit in 36 straight games and homered in 27 of their last 32 contests, including each of the last eight.