Bautista hammers 200th homer with Toronto

TORONTO -- Jose Bautista reached another milestone by hitting home run No. 200 in a Blue Jays uniform during Monday night's 8-0 victory over the Cubs.

Bautista became the fifth player in franchise history to reach the 200-homer plateau. Carlos Delgado is the all-time leader at 336 and is followed by Vernon Wells (223), Joe Carter (203), George Bell (202) and now Bautista.

"It's obviously a great personal accolade," Bautista said. "I wasn't aware of it, but somebody came up and told me about it today. I'm very proud and honored to have done it here, just really happy.

"But I think I'm going to enjoy this one -- like I always say with personal accolades -- more in the offseason than anything. We have a bigger goal that we're focused on right now, and that's to try and make the playoffs."

The home run also allowed Bautista to extend his hitting streak to 12 games. He has homered eight times over that stretch and continues to be red-hot at a time when the Blue Jays need him the most.

Bautista's homer also meant the Blue Jays have gone deep in 12 consecutive games for the first time since Aug. 6-18, 2011. He has 32 on the season, which is his highest total since 2011.

"That's not the only reason we've won games," Bautista said of the homers. "Obviously, the pitching is a big part of it, but not the home runs. I think there are many ways you can score runs to win ballgames. If it comes via the home run, we'll gladly accept it, but we're not going to go up to the plate trying to hit home runs."