Blue Jays' Edwin Encarnacion, Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista in home run battle
Toronto sluggers key series sweep over Tigers
Forget about Nelson Cruz, Chris Davis, J.D. Martinez and the American League home run race.
The Toronto Blue Jays trio of Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion are waging their own long-ball battle.
Donaldson and Encarnacion set the tone in Sunday's 9-2 rout of the visiting Detroit Tigers with first-inning homers, Nos. 36 and 30, respectively.
It was Donaldson's second dinger in Toronto's three-game series sweep and moved him six clear of his career high set last season with Oakland and to within three of Cruz for the AL lead.
Encarnacion, in the words of Blue Jays manager John Gibbons, "is smokin' right now." The designated hitter/first baseman carried the momentum from his three-homer, nine-RBI performance in Saturday's 15-1 drubbing of the Tigers into his first at-bat Sunday against right-hander Alfredo Simon, extending his hit streak to 25 games in the process.
Steady Eddie has nine homers in his past 11 games and 10 for August. He also has set the record for most RBIs in any month by a Blue Jay at 35.
Bautista, who topped the major leagues in homers with 54 and 43, respectively, in 2010 and 2011, has 31 this season and 10 in August, having gone deep in Friday's 5-3 win over Detroit.
Donaldson, Encarnacion and Bautista will try to feast on Cleveland's Danny Salazar in Monday's series opener. Encarnacion is the only member of the troika to homer off the hard-throwing right-hander while also doubling in five at-bats.