Jays win big in Tampa 5-2 behind Halladay and power bats.

Toronto v Tampa E=Rays. Game one of three.

Big series (another one) for Jays. Need to make some headway on the Rays and great chance to do it. Halladay tonight. Conflicting managerial styles tonight. The aggressive Joe Maddon against old school, no risk, wait for the big hit Cito. Great news to see Casey Janssen back with the team. Jays need long relief. I hope they don’t start him but they do need someone to swallow the innings for last 49 games.

Lineups: Toronto: Scutaro, Hill, Lind, Overbay, Wells, Ruiz, Encarnacion, Barajas, Inglett and Halladay pitching.
Tampa: Bartlett, Crawford, Longoria, Zobrist, Pena, Burrell, Gross, Zaun, Upton and Shields pitching.

The very good: Jays win 5-2 in Tampa, and against a team that has owned them this season. Great start to this series. Halladay, not overpowering but more than enough tonight. I think I have to give Barajas very good tonight for his throwing to get two stealing especially Crawford.
The good: Lind and Overbay home runs. Frasor save.
The bad: Jays hitters let Shields get away after the third.

Top 1st: Scutaro singles to centre. Hill strikes out. Lind fly ball to centre field Upton. Two down for Overbay, 1-2, there you go Lyle, that sweet swing, no doubt about it home run halfway up the 404 ft wall in centre. Jays go out 2-0. Wells with two down grounds to short Bartlett throw to Pena at first.
Bottom 1st: Bartlett grounds to Overbay flip to Halladay. One down for Crawford grounds to short, no chance to get this guy, Oh I wish Jays had some speed like Tampa does. Longoria with one on and one down, there goes Crawford, great throw by Barajas to Hill gets him, that is a huge out. Longoria grounds to Encarnacion throw to Overbay to end this one.

Top 2nd: Ruiz leading off singles to centre. Encarnacion strikes out. Barajas singles to right, Ruiz to second.Two on for Inglett, doubles to right, here comes Ruiz and Barajas holds at third. 3-0 Jays. Scutaro with one on, chance to pad the lead here, there you go Marco, fly ball to Gross in right, sac fly, Barajas scores 4-0 Jays. Hill fly ball to Upton in centre.
Bottom 2nd: Zobrist fly ball to Wells. One down for Pena, fly ball to Wells, two down for Burrell, strikes out. Good inning for Halladay.

Top 3rd: Lind leading off this one has gone no doubt about that hit, a Lind special that is still travelling south over right centre. 5-0 Jays and the bats are smoking tonight so far at least. Overbay fly ball to centre field Upton. Wells singles to right. Opposite field hit Vernon !!! . Ruiz strikes out. Encarnacion lined out to right fielder Gross.
Bottom 3rd: Gross lines out to Scutaro. One down for Zaun, ouch, hit on his hand by a pitch, although the sound was definitely wood. Upton grounds to third safe at first, Zaun to second. Bartlett grounds to Hill on to Scutaro throw to Overbay, double play ball. 43 pitches.

Top 4th: Barajas, pops up to Pena, first pitch, one down for Inglett, doubles in the secnd, not this time,. Fly ball to Upton, first pitch, come on Joe. Two puts on two pitches ??? Scutaro now has to take, Shields know this. Lines to Upton nice grab for third out, Jays go awfully quietly and rashly there. Six pitches for Shields. Jays unable to put the knife in. Shields pitch count only 62 as a result.
Bottom 4th: Crawford leading off. Doubles to centre. This guy is a menace every at bat. Longoria singles to left. Crawford to third, two on no outs, Halladay in trouble again. Zobrist first pitch swinging pops it up to Encarnacion. One down for Pena, strikes out, two down. Burrell, two down and two on. Strikes him out, Whoa Roy… way to go with two on and no outs.

Top 5th: Hill, grounds to Zobrist nice throw to just get Hill at first. One down for Lind, strikes out this time, two down for Overbay. Strikes out this time. Shields is settling into a groove here but you have to blame Jays free swinging bats to let him get off the hook. 78 pitch count.
Bottom 5th: Gross, another ex-Jay in tonight’s lineup. Grounds to Overbay flip to Halladay covering one down. Zaun, must be interesting for Halladay’s ex-catcher to face him. Who is outguessing whom? 0-2 count, strikes out, I guess advantage Roy in that at bat. Two down for Upton, grounds first pitch to Hill, throw to Overbay for third out. Pitch count 67.

Top 6th: Wells, swinging away, nothing to lose eh Vernon? Pops up to first, one down. Ruiz, fly ball to right, two down. Encarnacion, full count, lines out to right, three up and down again for Shields. Pitch count 89.
Bottom 6th: Bartlett leading off. Full count. Strikes out swinging. Great pitch. Crawford 2-2 tonight. Oh boy lines this one hard to right and over head of Inglett, triple and three quarters of the cycle. Error on the play. Longoria, fly ball to Wells and finally Crawford gets to come home. 5-1 Jays. One down for Zobrist, 3-0 count, full count, grounds to Hill, throw to Overbay for third out.

Top 7th: Can Jays hitters get that one back plus? Barajas leading off. Rod is overdue for a home run. High fly ball to centre Upton, one down for Inglett, eager to make up for that Crawford miss although difficult chance with his height or lack of. 0-2 count. Shields over the 100 pitch now. Strikes out. Scutaro high fly ball to left first pitch.
Bottom 7th: Pena, strikes out. Aybar, pinch hitting for Burrell, grounds to Hill, throw to Overbay two down. How many grounds balls have gone to Hill this season with Halladay pitching? Two down for Gross. Pops it up to Encarnacion, excellent and quick three up and down for Halladay. 95 pitch count.

Top 8th: Shields is still out there. Hill grounds back to Shields throw to first for the out. Lind, strikes out, Overbay with two down. That’s better, finally someone a hit, grounds it up the middle for a single. Now Rays bullpen is working. Springer, don’t worry it is Vernon. I don’t think anyone expects anything anymore from Vernon, if he gets a hit it is a plus. So very, very sad to see this decline. Will he ever regain even half of what he has lost? 3-0 count, gets under this one high fly ball to left for third out. 111 pitches.
Bottom 8th: Zaun leading off. Whoa Greg lines this to right and hits the foul pole, home run Zaun. 5-2 Rays. This game is by no means over. Upton singles to right. Jays bullpen working. Bartlett. Upton going and Barajas throw in time great throw for second time tonight. Bartlett lines out to centre, two down. One down but here comes trouble, Crawfird on the cycle, needs a home run. 1-2 count. Frasor up in Jays bullpen. 2-2 count, Man, lines it hard at Hill, off his body. And safe at first. Aaron should have had that one. Longoria with two down and one on. Grounds to Encarnacion throw to Scutaro for the out. No more damage done.

Top 9th: It would be good for Jays hitters to get a couple back here. Springer now pitching. Shields did a great job but Jays let him off the hook. Ruiz leading off, grounds to short, throw to first for the out. One down for Encarnacion, hitless tonight, fly ball to centre for second out, may be time for Bautista to take that third base position. Two down for Barajas, full count. Fouls off ball four. Swings over this one to end the inning. Will Halladay try to finish this one off?
Bottom 9th: No that is the end of Halladay’s evening, Frasor now pitching. Zobrist, 2-0 count. 2-2, pops it up to Encarnacion, one down for Pena, fly ball to Inglett in right, two down for Aybar, lines first pitch to centre, One on two down for Gross. 1-2 count, 2-2 just high, that’s more like it, strikes him out and Jays win he first of series in Tampa.

Outhit by Tampa 9-8 but great pitching by Halladay to get win number 13 and supported for a change with some power from Overbay and Lind.