Jays display power and defence behind solid pitching by Richmond to win another.

Cincinatti v Toronto Game two of three.

Jays showed some power last night can they repeat tonight? these are games they have to win to stay with Yankees and Boston.

Lineups: Cincinatti: Dickerson, Hairston jr, Votto, Phillips, Nix, Gomes, Bruce, Hernandez, Richar and Arroyo pitching.
Toronto: Scutaro,Hill, Wells, Rolen, Lind, Rios, Overbay, Barajas, Adams, and Richmond pitching.


Top 1st: Dickerson pops up to Scutaro. One down for Hairston Jr fly ball to Rios. Votto full count and walks. Phillips pops up to Hill. 15 pitches.
Bottom 1st: Scutaro full count and walks. Hill first pitch swing and this one is out of here into left field bullpen. 2-0 Jays. Wells another first pitch swing and this one is out in a hurry again left field seats. Home run for Vernon. More like a line drive into the left field seats for Vernon. 3-0 Jays. Back to back here. Rolen first pitch singles to center. Jays are locking into that first pitch by Arroyo. Lind does not hit first pitch. 3-1 and this one is out of here into left field seats. Third home run of the inning and two more runs as Rolen scorers. 5-0 Jays. Rios grounds to Hairston Jr at short throw to first base Votto. Overbay with one down, grounds back to Arroyo throw to first two down for Barajas. Grounds to short. Throw to first for final out and Arroyo can relax !! 33 pitch inning to start though. Great start by Jays hitters.

Top 2nd: Richmond needs to relax here and just throw his normal stuff with this lead. Nix, grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay for the first out. Gomes, gets hold of this one high into Jays bullpen in left. 5-1 Jays. We saw last night that 6-0 lead was almost not enough, don’t let it get away Richmond. Bruce, grounds to Hill, throw to Overbay two down. Hernandez with two down. High fly ball to Wells in centre.
Bottom 2nd: Adams with his batting average sinking fast from his 1,000 yesterday to .250 by the end of the game. Grounds here to Votto, nice diving save and flip to Arroyo one down. Scutaro doubles into right field corner. On for the second time in two innings. Hill bounces back to Arroyo throw to Votto at first for second out. Scutaro stays at second, Wells is he starting to get hot ? Everyone would love to see him do that. Full count. Pulls it into left for a double and another rbi as Scutaro scores easily. 6-1 Jays. Rolen with Vernon in scoring position. Grounds to shirt, throw to Votto for third out. 55 pitches. Top five in Jays order have all the six hits.

Top 3rd: Richar first pitch pops it very high to Rolen one down. Poor guy last night pinch hit and the scoreboard could not find his details in time. Dickerson, Full count and walks him. Come on Scott. 46 pitches. Hairston with one on and one down. Passed ball and Dickerson to second, full count. Singles to left, Dickerson scores easily. 6-2 Jays. Richmond not anywhere near his form tonight. Cito will not leave him in there if he doesn’t start to pitch. Votto with one on and one down. Almost 60 pitches for Richmond. Might last five if he is lucky. Another passed ball, crazy, as Votto strikes out, two down. Phillips strikes out but not a good inning for Richmond. 66 pitches.
Bottom 3rd: Lind, doubles down the left line, just fair, Adam has to get out faster there a little late watching that one. Rios with runner on second, grounds to second throw to Votto, Lind to third. Alex does his job I guess. Overbay strikes out, two down for Barajas, strikes out, not good there leaving Lind at third golden opportunity, have to take advantage these count. 74 pitches.

Top 4th: Nix high pop up to Wells calls off Scutaro. One down for Gomes, strikes out. Two down for Bruce grounds to Hill throw to Overbay, good inning for Richmond. 76 pitches though.
Bottom 4th: Adams bounces to Phillips. Ball hops at the end and Phillips throw not in time, very good hustle by Adams. Scutaro now with one on and he will not be bunting. Grounds to Hairston at short throw to Philips at second gets sliding Adams. Hill 3-0 count. Aaron showing patience here, full count, walks on low ball four. Two on one down for Vernon. 2-2 tonight. Reonicke up in Reds bullpen. 85 pitches for Arroyo. Grounds to third throw to Philips off the bag and everyone safe, bases loaded for Rolen. Grounds to short throw to second on to Votto not in time. Scutaro scores 7-2 Jays. Arroyo not getting any breaks this inning. Two down for Lind. Hill at third. Walks him to load them up again. Here comes Dusty Baker enough tonight, tough breaks though in this inning for him. 93 pitches. Roenicke pitching. Bases loaded for Rios has a chance here to really break it open. Swings at first pitch down and away ..(no bets allowed) and at the second. Up and in that pitch not even Alex would swing at that one. Fly ball to left Nix makes sliding catch and once again Rios comes up empty. Leaves bases loaded. Jays are giving up chance after chance. 1/9 with runners in scoring position. Rios another 0-3 night.

Top 5th: Hernandez pops up to Rolen, almost collides with Scutaro who was also shouting for it. Richar grounds up the middle backhand play by Hill to and throw to Overbay for the out. Highlight reel play. Dickerson grounds straight at Hill throw to Overbay for third out. Good inning for Richmond but also great backup defence to help him.
Bottom 5th: Overbay singles hard to centre, too bad you were not batting in front of Rios Lyle that would have been at least two runs last inning. Barajas with one on. Fly ball to Nix in left one down for Adams. 3-1 count and walks on ball four. Scutaro with two on and one down. Nice play, grounds to second tags Adams as he goes past throw to first base Votto to get Scutaro, double play to get out of the inning.

Top 6th: Hairston Jr fly ball to Wells.One down for Votto lines out to Wells. Busy guy. Phillips with two down. grounds to Rolen throw to Overbay. 91 pitches. Is that it for Richmond tonight ?
Bottom 6th: Hill strikes out looking. Wells up and in very high, nasty pitch. Vernon walks. One on for Rolen, Bounces one up the middle Hairston throw to Votto to get Rolen. Vernon at second with two down and Lind at bat grounds to Votto flip to Roenicke for third out.

Top 7th: Richmond still out there. Nix leading off. Full count. Fly ball to Wells in centre. Gomes grounds first pitch back to Richmond throw to Overbay two down. Bruce, grounds to Hill, throw to Overbay for third out.
Bottom 7th: Fisher pitching. Rios at bat. Alex and Rod Barajas the only two without a hit in the nine hit attack tonight. Alex strikes out 0-4 tonight. He was getting boos last night from fans in my area, will be getting lot more tonight. Fans have had enough of Alex. It is not so much his slump that bothers fans but the way he approaches each at bat and swings away at poor pitches, usually down and away Overbay grounds to Phillips second throw to Votto for second out. Barajas with two down, gets a good swing on this one but lines out to Nix in left.

Top 8th: Richmond back out ? not with 104 pitches. Hayhurst now pitching. Hernandez walks. Not good Dirk, Cito hates that especially leading off the inning, just throw strikes and get ball in play. Richar with one on. Singles up the middle, Dickerson with two on and no outs. déjà vu last night’s game seventh inning. Great pitch to strike him out. One down for Hairston, lines it to left fantastic play by Rolen leaping high full stretch to get that, Hairston can’t believe that. Gold Glove play. Votto with two down and two on. Grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay and end of inning. Hayhurst escaped damage but 26 pitch inning.
Bottom 8th: Fisher still pitching. Adams singles up the middle. Scutaro with one on. Pops it up to Dickerson in centre. Hill with one down and one on. Ball gets away and Adams moves up to second singles up the middle and Adams scores easily from second, 8-2 Jays. We might see BJ in the ninth with this lead. Wells has had a good two hit night but not this time strikes out. Rolen with two down and one on, full count. and walks, two on two down for Lind. Pops it up to shallow right for third out. 2/12 with runners in scoring position.

Top 9th: Ryan, Frasor, Accardo ? Not a save so someone to waste an inning. Hayhurst it is. Phillips leading off. High fly ball to Lind, one down for Nix. Griunds first pitch to Scutaro throw to Overbay two down. Gomes full count, singles to left. Not over yet. Bruce with one on and two down. Gomes takes second free. 3-0 count, come on Dirk. Grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay and that’s it.

Jays win 8-2.

The very good: Jays leading off first inning three home runs by Hill, Wells and Lind. Defence again Hill and Rolen. Highlight reel plays. Vernon home run and a double.
The good: Richmond, not perfect, struggled at times especially in first few innings but hung in there and gave seven good innings despite high pitch count after two. 11 hits and six walks for Jays tonight.
The bad: 2/12 with runners in scoring position. Rios another 0-4 night. Not much Cito can do with him beyond benching him, I would have no problem with that and bring up Coats to play outfield. Cito will persevere, he likes Alex.