Jays power sweeps Baltimore with four home runs

Jays v Orioles series finale. Sunday April 11.

Hill still out for another day at least. Johnny Mac playing at second today.
Marcum v Millwood.

Jays: Bautista, Gonzalez, Lind, Wells, Overbay, Buck, Encarnacion, Snider, McDonald.
Orioles: Pie, Jones, Markakis, Tejada, Scott, Wieters, Wigginton, Lugo and Izturis.

Top 1st: Bautista grounds to third base Tejada throw to first base Wigginton, one down.
Gonzalez same play grounds to Tejada throw to Wigginton. Lind fly ball to Jones in centre.
Bottom 1st: .Pie grounds to Johnny Mac at second base throw to Overbay, one down.
Jones grounds to Gonzalez awkward throw not in time and Jones safe at second on throwing error. Ball bounced away in from of Lyle who was blocked by the runner.
Markakis walks. Tejada doubles to left Jones scores 1-0 Baltimore, Markakis at third. Scott grounds to Overbay out at first Markakis scores 2-0 Baltimore. Wieters with Tejada at third, fly ball to Snider.

Top 2nd: Wells strikes out but didn’t look as if that hit the bat, umpire says foul tip but even replay is doubtful. Overbay strikes out. Buck grounds to Izturis at short throw to first for third out. Jays going quietly today.
Bottom 2nd. Wigginton singles to centre. Lugo with one on. grounds to Gonzalez short shovels it on to McDonald on to Overbay double play ball. Izturis singles up the middle. Pie pops it up to Encarnacion behind third.

Top 3rd: Encarnacion, strikes out, Jays hitters going after those pitches outside the zone today. Gonzalez first pitch swinging fly ball to left. Two down. Johnny Mac. Singles into left. Bautista one on two down, Big strike zone for umpire today. Fly ball to Markakis in shallow right centre.
Bottom 3rd: Jones full count, high fly ball into right field corer this is trouble, bounces away from Bautista and a leadoff triple. Markakis ever dangerous, strikes him out, that is a huge out for Marcum One down for Tejada, perfect grounds hard right back to Marcum, looks Jones back at third and throw to first for second out. Scott, full count, come on Shawn. That’s the way, high fly ball out to Vernon in centre, great pitching with the leadoff man at third and to keep them from scoring. Now for the bats to get going.

Top 4th: Gonzalez, yes sir this one is out of here in deep left centre, home run for Alex number three. 2-1 Baltimore. Lind, grounds to second throw to first for the out. Wells strikes out, two down for Overbay. First pitch swing, lazy fly ball out to left. Jays make it so easy for the starters to go deep in any game. But they are at least on the board with one run.
Bottom 4th: Wieters strikes out, one down for Wigginton, grounds to Gonzalez, throw to Overbay, two down. Lugo strikes out.

Top 5th: Buck grounds out to Izturis at short; throw to Wigginton at first for the out. Encarnacion strikes out. Snider grounds to Wigginton at first. Another poor inning
Bottom 5th: Izturis strikes out. Pie singles into right. One on for Jones fly ball to Bautista in right. Markakis fly ball to Snider in left.

Top 6th: Macdinald singles 2-2 today making it look easy to the big bats !!. Bautista fly ball to right. One down. Gonzalez, fly ball to right. Two down for Lind. Fly ball to shallow centre for Jones. Makes an awkward backhand catch but it all counts as Jays leave Johnny Mac out there. 3 hits two to Johnny Mac and one to Gonzalez ??? where are the big bats today? Pitch count for Millwood is 63 !!! 30 les than Marcum, that is what happens when first pitch swinging all the time.
Bottom 6th: Tejada grounds to third long throw to Overbay one down. Scott back up the middle for a single. One on one down for Wieters, soft flare off the end of the bat to shallow left. Two on. Janssen up in bullpen. Wigginton strikes out. Lugo with two down and two on, fly ball to Bautista in right leaving two more on. That might be it for Marcum almost 40 more pitches than Millwood.

Top 7th: Wells the biggest culprit, here we go again first pitch ground out to short, one down. Overbay, grounds it to first throw to Millwood, two down. Buck, grounds to third, throw to first. Far too easy for Millwood, he has about 30 pitches left here to finish this one off easily. Six more at bats unless we have a ninth inning revival, Jays are awfully flat today.
Bottom 7th: Janssen now in. Izturis, grounds weakly to Encarnacion, throw to Overbay one down. Lugo strikes out on three pitches, great stuff Casey. Two down for Jones. Casey working very fast as he always does. This umpiring crew will love him. Jones pops it up to McDonald. Great innings work.

Top 8th: Getting down to the wire for Jays to get to Millwood today. Pops it up to Wigginton one down. Snider just going downhill right now with his bat, it will be a long season for him unless he can fathom major league pitchers, strikes out looking. Johnny Mac the only Jays hitter who has done anything today with two hits (besides Gonzalez) so that says a lot. 3-3 does it again although off the glove of third but at least he reaches first base. Bautista finally gets hold of one and this one is out of here in left field, Jays go out ahead 3-2. Gonzalez at bat, Downs now up in bullpen. Orioles bullpen also getting busy. Another one, home run to Gonzalez, his second of the day. 4-2 Jays. That’s it for Millwood, too bad he had pitched so very well until this inning. Jays hitters had not a clue against him although it is interesting again that two of the three hits in this inning were from McDonald and Gonzalez who were the only two to have solved Millwood earlier this game. Although I would maintain that Jays hitters were getting themselves out with rash first pitch swinging. Matt Albers pitching to Lind. Walks. Some patience here ? We shall see with Vernon’s at bat, two down one on. Yes 3-0 count. Now full count as Vernon goes after ball four. Now he walks. Here comes pitching coach, back to back walks will do that. Overbay, time for Lyle to connect. Weak groundout to first for third out, but Jays get big inning and three more runs.
Bottom 8th: Scott Downs now pitching. Leadoff Markakis, strikes out looking. One down for Tejada fly ball into right field corner, this time Bautista can get to it in foul ground. Two down. Scott, pops it up behind third for Encarnacion.

Top 9th: Meredith now pitching. Buck. Fly ball to Markakis in right. Kevin Gregg up in bullpen. Encarnacion, YES Edwin gets hold of this one, HUGE home run to left, 5-2 Jays. Travis how about it, no, a dribbler off the bat down first base line, two down. Travis average now .150. How bad is that for a power hitter? McDonald now, on base all three times today, and there he goes again Johnny Mac doubles into right. You see Travis this hitting stuff is simple really. Bautista again, strikes out looking at inside pitch, Jose does not like that call but Jays have a three run lead now.
Bottom 9th: Kevin Gregg starting this one and would like to finish it as well. Wieters leading off. Singles into right. One on for Wigginton, grounds to Gonzalez shuffles it to Johnny Mac over to Overbay double play ball. Reimold pinch hitting. Strikes him out. and Jays win big here 5-2. Orioles outhit the Jays but Jays have four home runs on those hits.

They go home 5-1 from their road trip and that could have been a perfect 6-0, but an excellent start and five in the all important win column. Home opener tomorrow with Tallet pitching. Which one will show up? He is too inconsistent for my liking.

The very good: Marcum closed them down after that first inning, and was able to get out of some very tough situations. Alex Gonzalez with two home runs today. What I find so amazing is that this guy did nothing with the bat in spring training and now has four this week alone. The bullpen of Janssen, Downs and Gregg perfect three no hit innings.

The good: Johnny Mac with the bat ! on base four times. Two more home runs from Encarnacion, and Bautista.
The poor: Lousy first pitch swinging against Millwood. Snider all at sea right now, let’s hope the home stadium will help him snap out of it and get him going with some power.