Jays win big on the road 11-2

Jays v Pittsburgh Saturday March 27.

Suspense time. Big unveiling of opening day lineup ? maybe, according to Cito two days ago.
No. not today.
This is the second team travelling BUT Jeremy Reed getting right field start. Sorry Travis. Lubanski in left and Gathright in centre. Molina catching, no Lyle Overbay, day to day with that knee and why risk this one? Kyle Phillips back at first and why not, he earned it yesterday. Encarnacion DH today.

Nice start for Jays top of the first, Bautista draws a walk an Aaron combining to get the first run across 1-0.
One in the first and three more in the second thanks to Jeremy Reed, three rbis in first two at bats, looking mighty good for young Jeremy. His avge .438 with 10 RBIs, and getting more confident each at bat.

Tallet pitching tough. Three strikeouts for Tallet in first two innings facing the minimum six. Nailing down that rotation spot. Oops there goes the no hitter as believe it or not the pitcher Daniel McCutchen breaks it up. But no further damage and still no runs after three.

Top of the fourth, OH boy here we go again, Bautista gets hold of this one, with two down and it is out of here, 5-0 Jays and Jose’s fourth home run of the spring. Cito is looking like a genius every day by starting Jose, he has really produced. Maybe Marco Scutaro will not be missed as much as we thought and Marco has made three fielding errors this spring with another today. Jose two hits and a walk in first three at bats today and three runs. If Jose and Aaron can continue their hot streaks then Lind, Wells and Overbay behind them are going to have great RBI seasons. Top three of the order today has all five hits. Jays hitting 3-6 so far with runners in scoring position. Cedeno at short for Pittsburgh having a rough day with two errors already.

Tallet after four still run less but two hits and a walk now to go with the four strikeouts. Kyle does not like that drops this one and is charged with the error.
Fifth Brendon Donnelly now pitching. Lubanski double. Gonzalez walks Mike McCoy pinch running for Alex. Molina double brings in two 7-0. Gathright brings in Molina 8-0 Jays and that’s it for Donnelly three earned runs. Ex-Yankee Steven Jackson now pitching.

Bottom fifth changes McCoy stays in game at short, Chavez is in for Molina behind the plate and Ramirez in centre for Gathright. I don’t think Chavez is challenging Molina for backup catcher but Cito probably wants to get a good look at him in event of needing backup during the season. Delwyn Young pinch hitting for Jackson and with five home runs already this spring a test for Tallet. Strikes him out, way to go Brian.
Tallet now very efficient three up and down and after five two hits, one walk and five strikeouts.

Top 6th Evan Meek now pitching for Pittsburgh. Top of the order again Bautista.
AJ Burnett going for Yankees against Detroit this afternoon, three walks and two stolen bases in six. Yankees leading 2-1. Aaron doubles, his second hit of the day, Emaus now pinch running, but that’s it, no joy for Jays here. Jays leave him stranded out there. 4-10 with runners in scoring position.

Bottom 6th. Now playing Diaz for Bautista at third, Emaus stays in the game at second. Mastroianni in for Reed, Cooper at first for Phillips. Collazo now pitching replacing Tallet who had great outing and moves that ERA down from .736 after that Detroit outing to . 506. If Tallet could only be consistent. I am one of his biggest critics because he drives me crazy with the inconsistent performances, one week unhittable the next awful. Today I am very happy.

Iwamara singles off Collazo, (Andrew) McCutchen doubles, Iwamara scores, Jones doubles McCutchen scores 8-2 Jays.

Top 7th: Anthony Claggett now pitching, three up and down for Jays.
Bottom 7th: Casey Janssen now pitching, three up and down, all three groundouts, .000 ERA after six games and only one hit. WOW.

Top 8th: Leading off Welinton Ramirez singles, one on for Jonathan Diaz, Emaus singles and here comes Ramirez 9-2 Jays. a hit, Cooper singles and here comes Diaz. 10-2 Jays. a hit and two more runs score
Bottom 8th Janssen starting another inning here, no just two, still hitless after six and two third innings of relief. Four ground outs and a strike out. Accardo now pitching, no problem ground out to finish off the inning.
Top 9th: Karstens now pitching Lubanski a hit, his second of today. McCoy singles, Lubanski to third, Chavez sac fly that will do it, Lubanski comes in another run scores. 11-2.

Accardo out there to finish this one off, oh boy three more ground outs and Jays win big today and Cito has some thinking to do about the bullpen. Jays fourteen hits and 7-14 with runners in scoring position.

Janssen has to go north in bullpen. We have forgotten how good he was before the injuries as he hardly played on a regular basis last season. Accardo today very impressive. Eveland I say yes. Plus your five starters.

Question marks: Cecil, Purcey, Camp, Roenicke, Carlson ? or does he take extra hitters ? Can never have enough pitching but is it better to give them regular work in Vegas and recall them when needed? That is why Cito is paid big bucks.

Tomorrow back in Dunedin for the Orioles and unveiling of THE lineup, of course injury list included. Placing a couple on the DL will give Cito some room to make the difficult decisions.

Ooops section: sorry about that double play that never was, not yesterday at least, must have been so excited it was still in my subconscious from earlier this week (McCoy- Johnny Mac).. And apologies for (omission of) spell-check last night. That’s why we have spring training, to get the bugs ironed out!