Toronto Blue Jays ruin Encarnacion’s homecoming

Edwin Encarnacion received a warm reception from the fans who used to call him their own on Monday night.Then he went out and got two hits and reached base three times. Unfortunately for the Tribe, his new teammates didn’t contribute much to his homecoming as Toronto beat the Indians, 4-2, at Rogers Centre. The Indians have been held to three or fewer runs in 17 of their 31 games this season.Trevor Bauer (2-3, 7.36) allowed two runs each in the second and third innings and that was enough to beat the Indians. Bauer, working on six days’ rest, set a career-high with 125 pitches as he worked six innings.Over 40,000 fans came to Rogers Centre on Monday to see if Encarnacion would do what he did so well for the seven-plus years he played for the Jays — hit a home run. It turned out the only home run of the game was hit by shortstop Ryan Goins.Goins hit just his third homer of the season in the second for a 2-0 lead following a double by Devon Travis. It came with two out as Bauer made a good pitch inside, but Goins made a better swing.The Blue Jays made it 4-0 on Justin Smoak’s two-run single in the third. Bauer walked Kevin Pillar and gave up a double to Kendrys Morales to bring Smoak to the plate. The Indians were playing the infield in on Smoak’s soft single to right.“Everything they hit was located right where I wanted to,” said Bauer. “If you go back and look at their slugging percentages on those pitches over the last two years — Goins is slugging .200 on that pitch, Morales is slugging .167, Smoak is slugging .167, Travis is slugging .333 on his double.“I don’t know. I’m playing the odds and right now they’re definitely against me.”In the sixth, Pillar denied the Indians a big inning when he made a great diving catch against Jose Ramirez to end the inning. “That’s one of the best catches I’ve seen in a long time,” said manager Terry Francona. “It was a game-changing play.”The win went to Marcus Stroman (3-2, 3.38). He threw six scoreless innings, allowing six hits with two walks and a strikeout. Stroman left his previous start after three innings with right shoulder tightness.Bauer allowed four runs on six hits. He struck out six and walked three.What just happened?The Indians finally broke through against Toronto in the eighth, but it took some doing.After Roberto Perez walked and Carlos Santana doubled him to third, Francisco Lindor singled to right against former Tribe reliever Joe Smith. Perez scored and when Lindor got caught in a rundown between first and second, Santana scored as well.To make things sting a little more for the Blue Jays, Travis, playing second base, was called for obstruction with Lindor during the rundown. Lindor was awarded second base and Toronto manager John Gibbons was ejected for arguing.Travis was charged with an error on the play.Smith, who came on to face Lindor, gathered himself nicely to retire Jason Kipnis on a grounder and strike out Encarnacion and Ramirez to end the inning.