Series finale Texas v Toronto in Arlington.
Texas opened the series Monday leading the AL West standings with a 33-25 record and a league-leading 89 home runs, but has lost six of its last nine games and been held to two hits in two of the past four games.
Toronto: Scutaro, Hill, Rios, Wells, Lind, Rolen, Overbay, Millar, Chavez and Romero pitching.
Texas: Kinsler, Young, Jones, Cruz, Murphy,Byrd, Saltalamacchia, Davis, Andrus and Millwood pitching. Millwood (5-4, 2.96) is a good pitcher and in his last game held the Boston to one unearned run in just over seven innings to lead Rangers to a 5-1 victory in Fenway. Millwood is 1-4 with a 6.25 ERA in eight career starts against Toronto. Rolen has two homers and six doubles in his career against Millwood. Scott has three hits in each of his last two games to boost his batting average to .314.
The very good: Romero, very good. 6 1/3 inning s with six strikeouts and 2 walks. A game very tough to lose but the good news is that Romero still has something which I was beginning to doubt.
The bad: Hitting and hitting and hitting with runners in scoring position. Wells 0-4. Jays outhit Texas 6-5 except when it matters. Rios .261 now Wells .250. How much longer Cito ?
Top 1st: Scutaro has played in every one of Toronto's 61 games this season, committing just one error in the field and averaging .306 at the plate with five home runs and 29 runs batted in.
grounds to shortstop Andrus throw to first base Davis.One down for Hill singles to left. One on for Rios singles to left. Good start Alex. Wells with Hill at second, Rios at first and one down, chance for something here Vernon. Full count. Lines to Young at third. Hill dives back in time. Vernon continues his hitting woes. Lind now with two on and two down. Fly ball to Murphy in left corner and Jays leave two stranded. Millwood escapes damage this time. 15 pitch inning.
Bottom 1st: Romero pitching, Kinsler high pop up to Scutaro at short, one down for Young grounds to Overbay, flip to Romero two down. Andruw Jones lines this one very hard but right at Lind in left for first pitch out. Nine pitch inning. Now Romero needs some run support here.
Top 2nd: Rolen first pitch lines it hard to Byrd in centre, one down for Overbay, Grounds it to Kinsler at second, slips but just recovers in time to get Lyle by half a step. Millar pulls it to short. Andrus throw to Davis at first and Jays go very quietly here three up and down. Why is that so many Jays try to pull the ball instead of going to opposite field? or up the middle ? I can see Boston players in Fenway but why the Jays? 27 pitches for Millwood.
Bottom 2nd: Cruz, broken bat single up the middle. Murphy, bunting? No. Manager Ron Washington not rolling the dice here, this is a good hitting team.This is trouble, doubles into right field corner. Two on no outs and both in scoring position. Infield in. Byrd swinging away. Lines out to Lind in left, Cruz tags and scores easily on the throw. Byrd out. 1-0 Texas. Murphy stays at second. Saltalamacchia strikes out on three pitches, very nice Ricky. Two down Davis 3-0 count. Come on Ricky one more out here. Davis full count and walks. Andrus fly ball to Wells.
Top 3rd: Chavez playing for Barajas tonight, not sure why as they all had a night off last night, fly ball to right field Cruz. Scutaro grounds back to Millwood throw to first base Davis. Hill doubles to left. 2-2 tonight. Rios now, fly ball to centre field Byrd.
Bottom 3rd: Kinsler fly ball to Wells. Young strikes out. Jones fly ball to Rios. Great catch by Alex using his height at the wall.
Top 4th: Wells grounds back to Millwood throw to first base Davis. Lind fly ball to centre field Byrd. Two down. Rolen grounds to Saltalamacchia throw to first base Davis
Bottom 4th: Cruz grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay. One down for Murphy, strikes out. Byrd strikes out.
Top 5th: Overbay grounds to second base Kinsler throw to first base Davis. Millar with one down, pops this one up Andrus dives into the third base seats to get this, great play. Chavez fly ball to Cruz in right field.
Bottom 5th: - Saltalamacchia singles to left Davis grounds to Overbay throw to Scutaro to get Saltalamacchia. Andrus walks, Davis to second. Kinsler strikes out. Young grounds to Scutaro throw to Hill, Andrus out at second.
Top 6th: Scutaro grounds back to Millwood throw to first base Davis. One down for Hill, lines out to right field Cruz. Rios grounds very hard to third base Young, great play by Young to save and throw Alex out at first. Gold Glove play.
Bottom 6th: Jones strikes out. Cruz grounds to Hill throw to Overbay. One down. Murphy singles to centre. Byrd pops up to Overbay. Another very good inning by Romero, he just has no run support.
Top 7th: Wells grounds to Andrus throw to Davis at first base. Lind hit by a pitch. Rolen singles to right, Lind to second. This is more like it. Overbay grounds to Young throw to first base Davis, Lind to third, Rolen to second. Millar fly ball to left field Murphy. Ends that rally.
Bottom 7th: - Saltalamacchia fly ball to Lind. Davis doubles to left. That is it for Romero, he did his job and more than expected. But he cannot win a game without any runs. Frasor now pitching. Andrus grounds to Rolen throw to Overbay. Two down for Kinsler, strikes out.
Top 8th: Inglett pinch-hitting for Chavez, not sure this guy should be leading off in a one run game, if he is the best of the bench then Cito needs help, grounds out to Davis at first. Scutaro singles to left. This is why so important to get someone on base for the top of the order.
Wild pitch by Millwood, Scutaro to second. Hill strikes out. That is it for Millwood , as if Romero he would have appreciated a few more runs to make his job easier tonight. O'Day now pitching.
Rios grounds to Andrus throw to Davis at first base.
Bottom 8th: Barajas in as catcher. Young strikes out. Jones fly ball to Rios. Cruz hit by pitch. Cruz stealing and safe at second. Murphy strikes out.
Top 9th: Wells leading off another inning but this time important to get on base here Vernon, pops up to second base Kinsler. Vernon 0-4 tonight. Wilson now pitching. Lind doubles to right. That’s more like it. We have seen more leadership from Lind this season than both Vernon and Alex combined. Too bad they are not paid for performance. Rolen with Lind at second strikes out. Overbay last chance here for Jays, Lyle we need a double so badly here. Grounds to Andrus at short throw to first base Davis to end a very disappointing game here for Jays hitters and waste a great outing by Romero.
Jays hitters 0-9 with runners in scoring position. Awful, awful awful.
Travis Snider not returning from Vegas anytime soon. Travis has lower back pain the past two weeks Gaston said he wouldn't see game action with the triple-A Las Vegas 51s until July.
"He's had trouble with his back the whole year," said the manager. "He's had x-rays and they can't find anything wrong with it."
Wednesday's rained out game will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Sept. 1.
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