VIDEO: Edwin Encarnacion slugs his 15th and 16th home runs this month

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UPDATE: I should have known better than to think that Encarnacion was done for the night. He just hit another one, giving him 16 home runs this month. That ties him with Mickey Mantle (1956) as the only American League players to hit 16 home runs in May. Barry Bonds (2001) has the National League record for May with 17. Sammy Sosa (1998) has the all-time record for home runs in any month with 20.

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9:01 p.m. ET: Ho-hum. Another day, another home run for Edwin Encarnacion. It’s becoming routine at this point.

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That was a beauty. Encarnacion is now up to 17 home runs on the season and has 15 this month alone, which sets a new franchise record for any month. His teammate Jose Bautista set the previous Jays’ record when he hit 14 in June of 2012.

Just to put things into perspective here, Encarnacion has more home runs this month than both the Royals (11) and Cardinals (9). Yes, the entire teams.

Dodgers place pitcher Noah Syndergaard on injured list with no timetable for return

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Katie Stratman/USA TODAY Sports
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CINCINNATI — The Los Angeles Dodgers placed pitcher Noah Syndergaard on the 15-day injured list Thursday with a blister on the index finger of his right throwing hand.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the timetable for Syndergaard’s return is unknown despite the 15-day designation.

“The physical, the mental, the emotional part, as he’s talked about, has taken a toll on him,” Roberts said. “So, the ability to get him away from this. He left today to go back to Los Angeles to kind of get back to normalcy.”

Syndergaard allowed six runs and seven hits in three innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night, raising his ERA to 7.16.

Syndergaard (1-4) has surrendered at least five runs in three straight starts.

Syndergaard has been trying to return to the player he was before Tommy John surgery sidelined him for the better part of the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Roberts said Syndergaard will need at least “a few weeks” to both heal and get away from baseball and “reset.”

“I think searching and not being comfortable with where he was at in the moment is certainly evident in performance,” Roberts said. “So hopefully this time away will provide more clarity on who he is right now as a pitcher.

“Trying to perform when you’re searching at this level is extremely difficult. I applaud him from not running from it, but it’s still very difficult. Hopefully it can be a tale of two stories, two halves when he does come back.”