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Jays club 3 HRs in 8th off Lee, rally past Phils

Jul 3, 2011 - 10:05 PM Toronto, ON (Sports Network) - Eric Thames, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion each homered off Cliff Lee in the eighth inning, as the Blue Jays salvaged the finale of their three-game interleague series against the Phillies with a 7-4 victory in comeback fashion.

Lee came into the series finale fresh off throwing three consecutive shutouts and was trying to hold a 4-3 cushion in the eighth.

The lead lasted all of five pitches, as Thames took the first pitch he saw over the center-field wall to tie the game prior to Bautista crushing his league-leading 27th home run of the season into the second deck in left.

Three batters later Encarnacion added a two-run blast off Lee (9-6), who was charged with seven runs -- six earned -- in 7 1/3 innings. The lefty entered the contest on a 32-inning scoreless streak.

Jo-Jo Reyes settled down after giving up four runs in the second inning and kept it close long enough for Octavio Dotel (2-1) to earn the win in relief. Dotel recorded the final five outs to snap Toronto's three-game slide.

Jimmy Rollins had a two-run single in defeat, Philadelphia's second in seven games.

The Phillies came back in the late innings to win the first two games of the series, but wasted little time jumping out in front on Sunday with a four-run second inning.

Shane Victorino started the rally with a one-out ground-rule double and scored on Ben Francisco's base hit up the middle. After a Domonic Brown single, Carlos Ruiz one-hopped the wall in right-center for a ground-rule double to score Francisco, and Rollins chased home two with an opposite-field hit to right.

Rajai Davis was instrumental in the first two Toronto runs. He tripled leading off the third and scored on John McDonald's groundout; then, in the fifth, he singled, stole second and third and came in on Aaron Hill's two-out base hit.

Bautista, MLB's leading vote-getter for the All-Star game this season, scored on a Juan Rivera sacrifice fly in the sixth to make it a one-run game. Victorino caught the fly ball in center and tripped over his own feet to allow Bautista to trot home without a play at the plate.

"We could have come in flat, could have come in knowing we were going up against a guy throwing 30-plus scoreless innings...but we chipped away and felt a little momentum," Blue Jays manager John Farrell said. "I think today was an example of the competitiveness that we continue to show."

Game Notes

The Jays finished 8-10 in interleague play this season, while the Phillies went 9-6...Toronto has hit at least one home run in 11 straight games...Bautista's 7,454,753 All-Star votes broke Ken Griffey Jr's record of 6,069,688 votes set in 1994...Reyes went six innings and allowed four runs on eight hits and two walks...Lee, who struck out nine and gave up 10 hits, was trying to become the first pitcher since the Dodgers' Orel Hershiser to throw at least four consecutive shutouts. His 34-inning scoreless streak is second longest in Phillies history, behind only Grover Cleveland's 41 in 1911...Lee was one of three Phillies starters to make the All-Star team, joining Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels. Third baseman Placido Polanco was the Phillies' only offensive All-Star starter. Victorino is one of the five finalist for the NL's Final Vote, as selected by the fans.