Blue Jays 8, Rockies 3
Blue Jays 8, Rockies 3: Edwin Encarnacion hit one of three Toronto homers and Esmil Rogers threw 6 2/3 strong innings against his former team as the host Blue Jays routed Colorado for their seventh consecutive victory.
J.P. Arencibia and Maicer Izturis added back-to-back homers while Melky Cabrera had a pair of hits and scored twice for the Blue Jays, who have fashioned their longest winning streak since a 10-game run from Aug. 30-Sept. 9, 2008. Rogers (3-2), who didn't allow a hit until the sixth inning, was charged with three runs (two earned) on four hits while fanning five.
Rockies counterpart Jeff Francis (2-5), who was making his second career start in his native Canada, was torched for eight runs on 10 hits over six innings. The veteran left-hander equaled his season high in runs allowed while falling to 1-5 in his last 10 outings.
The Blue Jays rocked Francis for four runs in the first, a rally capped by Arencibia's run-scoring double to left field. Encarnacion extended the lead in the fifth with a two-run blast into the Blue Jays bullpen in left for his 19th home run of the season.
Arencibia's sixth-inning homer into the second deck in left was followed by a rare power display from Izturis, who belted a shot over the left-field wall for his fourth of the year. Colorado responded with its first runs of the series in the seventh, as Wilin Rosario and Nolan Arenado knocked in runs to chase Rogers, and Rosario came around to score on Izturis' error.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Toronto starters have allowed just four earned runs over their last six games, a span of 40 2/3 innings. ... Rogers posted a 6.77 ERA in 70 appearances with the Rockies, who traded him to Cleveland for cash considerations just over a year ago. He was dealt to Toronto in the offseason. ... Rockies 2B Josh Rutledge went hitless in four at-bats and is mired in a 3-for-34 slump.