San Francisco @ Toronto preview
Rogers Centre
Last Meeting ( Jun 18, 2010 ) San Francisco 2, Toronto 3
After Edwin Encarnacion ended a lengthy slump in the series opener, the Toronto Blue Jays hope some of their other hitters can do the same on Saturday afternoon.
The Blue Jays take a two-game winning streak into the second of a three-contest interleague series against the visiting San Francisco Giants. Toronto earned a 3-2 victory over the Giants in Friday's opener behind a two-hit, three-RBI performance from Encarnacion.
The struggling third baseman snapped a 2-for-26 slump with a two-run single and the go-ahead solo homer. Six of his nine home runs on the season have come during interleague play, and the two hits Friday raised his season average to .204.
While the Jays were no doubt thrilled to see Encarnacion halt his recent funk, two other lineup mainstays continue to scuffle. Jose Bautista went 0-for-2 Friday and is now mired in a 2-for-38 cold streak that has dropped his average from .259 to .225. He hasn't had an extra-base hit since June 4, and he has struck out 13 times in his past 11 games.
Outfielder Adam Lind is also going through an extended drought. A .305 hitter last season, Lind has just nine hits in his last 73 at-bats to drop his average on the season to .204. He has just one home run since May 21, and hasn't had a multi-hit game in nearly a month.
Things won't come easily for the Blue Jays against Giants starter Matt Cain (6-4), who is enjoying the hottest stretch of his major-league career.
The 25-year-old right-hander has allowed just two earned runs over his past five starts, a stretch that includes a pair of complete-game shutouts. Cain has gone 4-1 over that span, lowering his ERA from 3.33 to 2.05. He has surrendered more than two runs just once this season, and opponents are hitting just .203 off him.
Cain scattered eight hits over seven innings in his previous outing, a 6-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics. Cain walked one and struck out four, avenging a complete-game 1-0 loss to the Athletics three weeks earlier.
He'll be hoping for a little more run support than the Giants provided Barry Zito in Friday's opener. San Francisco managed just five hits against Brandon Morrow and three Toronto relievers, with Pablo Sandoval generating the only San Francisco offense with a sacrifice fly and an RBI groundout. Zito was the hard-luck loser, going the distance on a four-hitter.
Jesse Litsch (0-1) gets the start for the Blue Jays. He was shelled in his first appearance since undergoing ligament replacement surgery, allowing seven runs and nine hits in just 2 1/3 innings of a blowout loss to Colorado last weekend.
A 13-game winner in 2008, Litsch is making his first appearance at the Rogers Centre since April 8, 2009, when he allowed five runs over six innings in a 5-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers.
His last home victory came Sept. 18, 2008, after he tossed six strong innings in a 3-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.