Jays bats rescue Romero for 8-5 win.

Toronto v Cleveland game two of three. Tuesday May 5th

Lineups: Toronto: Lewis, Hill, Lind, Wells, Overbay, Gonzalez, Bautista, Buck, Snider.
Cleveland: Grudzielanek, Sizemore, Choo, Kearns, Peralta, Hafner, Branyan, Marson, Valbuena.

Pitching: Romero v Westbrook.

Top 1st: Lewis leading off singles to right. He is getting more confident each at bat and what I also like is the speed that he brings to this team. Threat to steal but also score from first. It will be difficult to displace him from lineup Cito if and when Encarnacion returns. Hill singles to centre, Lewis to second. Two on and no outs for Lind in a horrible slump, grounds to Branyan at first for the out but at least he moves the players over but it is worrying to see this great bat reduced to that. Last season that would be three run home run. Perhaps he will pick it up when the others start to cool off. Vernon now with Lewis at third, there we go Vernon, sac fly to Sizemore in shallow centre but more than enough for Fred’s speed plus Sizemore’s arm is not as strong after his surgery. 1-0 Jays. And more to the point textbook plays which have been missing for so long with this team. Overbay, now still not firing on all his cylinders either, full count and walks. Two on two down for Gonzalez, grounds back to pitcher Westbrook throw to Branyan at first to end the inning but Jays strike first.
Bottom 1st: Grudzielanek leading off tonight, strikes out. Sizemore strikes out. Choo strikes out. Very nice Ricky.

Top 2nd: Bautista singles to left. Buck lines out to Kearns playing in left. Snider grounds back to Westbrook throws to shortstop Valbuena at second, Bautista out. Snider on first.Snider going and safe at second. Is it my imagination or is Travis playing with a lot more confidence now that he has his bat going? Lewis with Snider in scoring position full count and walks. Two on two down for Hill grounds to third Peralta throw to second Grudzielanek, Lewis out to end the inning.
Bottom 2nd: - Kearns grounds to third base Bautista throw to Overbay at first for the out. Peralta strikes out. Hafner singles to centre. One on two down for Branyan, strikes out.Romero with five strikeouts already. This kid is good.

Top 3rd: Lind grounds to Valbuena at short throw to Branyan at first, one down. Wells strikes out.
Overbay grounds to second base Grudzielanek throw to Branyan at first for the out.Jays go more quietly this inning.
Bottom 3rd: Marson strikes out. Number six for Ricky. Valbuena fly ball to Wells in centre. Two down. Grudzielanek singles to centre. Sizemore singles to centre, Grudzielanek to third. Two on two down. Oh no, wild pitch and Sizemore moves up to second but at least Grudzielanek stays put. Choo, here we go singles to centre, third hit in a row here, Grudzielanek scores, here comes Sizemore, two runs score 2-1 Cleveland. Just like that when Romero was motoring along. Another wild pitch, Choo to second. Come on Ricky. Kearns full count and walks. Not good here all with two outs as well.Peralta doubles to right, Choo scores, here comes Kearns 4-1 Cleveland. Hafner with Peralta at second, grounds to second, Peralta to third. Hafner at first.
Branyan with two on pops up to Overbay to end this one. A little rough inning there for Ricky and all with two down.

Top 4th: Jays need to get one back here to help out their pitcher. Gonzalez 3-0 and walks on four pitches. Good start. Bautista, YES Jose……does it again this one is out of here, home run, here comes Gonzalez, here comes Bautista two runs and now 4-3 Cleveland. That will give Ricky a boost. Buck with no one out, strikes out. One down for Snider doubles to left. Way to go Travis. Note also an opposite field hit, Travis is going both sides this week.Lewis with one down strikes out. Hill grounds to Valbuena, error on the play and Aaron safe at first, Snider to third. Lind full count and walks. Bases loaded. Hill moves up to second. Wells, with bases loaded come on Vernon, walks, Snider scores and this game is all tied up again.4-4. Bases still loaded. That’s it for Westbrook. Wright now pitching. Overbay with bases loaded, perfect time here for you Lyle. A single will do. Not this time, strikes out. Lyle having a miserable season so far. But at least Jays hitter have given Ricky another chance here.
Bottom 4th: Marson grounds to Gonzalez at short throw to Overbay at first, one down. Valbuena full count and walks. Oh no Ricky throw over gets away, Valbuena to second error to Romero. Man come on Ricky another wild pitch, Valbuena to third. Third wild pitch tonight for Ricky. What’s going on here, is it Buck? Grudzielanek grounds to third here comes Valbuena to score and Cleveland take the lead again 5-4. Sizemore singles to centre, Grudzielanek to third. There we go Ricky, this time you get him, Sizemore picked off a first. Two down one at third, Choo grounds to Hill at second throw to Overbay at first for the out. Another shaky inning for Romerop but at least he helped himself to get out of it.

Top 5th: Gonzalez pops up Grudzielanek at second.One down for Bautista, hit by a pitch. Buck,
there goes Jose, steals second. Buck grounds to Branyan at first throw to pitcher Wright, Bautista moves up to third. Snider, that’s the way Travis another double this time to right. Here comes Bautista. 5-5 game. Lewis with Travis in scoring position, grounds back to pitcher Wright throw to Branyan at firs for the out but Jays have tied it up again for Ricky.
Bottom 5th: Kearns strikes out. Number seven. Peralta lines out to Bautista at third. Hafner hit by a pitch. Ricky is certainly having his problems tonight. One on two down for Branyan strikes out. Eight strikes outs, three wild pitches, hit batter, Ricky is really battling in this one.

Top 6th: Lewis now pitching. Hill grounds to Valbuena at short throw to Branyan at first. One down for Lind, strikes out. No joy for Adam these days. Wells full count and walks. Overbay full count and walks, Wells to second. Two on two down for Gonzalez, there we go Alex, doubles to left, here comes Vernon 6-5 Jays, Overbay to third, two on for Bautista full count and walks. Bases loaded. Buck grounds to Valbuena at short, throw to Grudzielanek at second, Bautista out.
Bottom 6th: Now Ricky, can you hold it here? Marson doubles to centre. Cito’s patience being tried here. Valbuena strikes out. That’s better. Romero has nine strikeouts but has by no means dominated tonight. Grudzielanek lines out to Snider in right. Two down for Sizemore pops up to Gonzalez at short and leadoff double is left out there. That is probably it for Ricky tonight though.

Top 7th: Perez now pitching. Snider leading off singles to short beats out the throw. Lewis with one on, doubles to centre, here comes Snider, 7-5 Jays. Laffey now pitching. Jays getting into Cleveland bullpen bigtime tonight. Number five pitcher tonight. Hill grounds to Peralta at third throw to Branyan at first for the out. Lind strikes out. He wants this evening over. Wells was intentional walk to get to Overbay, there you are Lyle, is that incentive enough ??? Two on two down. There we go Lyle, easy isn’t it? Singles to left, here comes Lewis 8-5 Jays. Vernon moves into scoring position at second. - On Laffey's wild pitch, Wells to third, Overbay to second.Gonzalez fly ball to Sizemore in centre, but Jays get another two insurance runs for the bullpen and Lyle gets a monkey off his back. Now if only Lind could do the same.
Bottom 7th: Camp now pitching Choo leading off doubles to the wall. Now what Cito had in mind. Kearns with Choo in scoring position. Strikes out one down one for Peralta grounds to Camp throw to Overbay two down runner moves up to third on the play. Romero 105 pitches nine strikeouts 2 walks plus three wild pitches. That’s it for Camp, here comes Downs, Cito playing around with percentages again. Hafner, grounds to Hill bobbles it but recovers and throw to Overbay for third out, leaving leadoff runner out there.

Top 8th: Hector Ambriz pitching. Sixth pitcher used by Cleveland tonight. Bautista good night for him two hits including the two run home run a walk and hit by pitch, strikes out swinging here. Buck, ofer night tonight 0-4 pops it up to first two down. Snider, 3-4 night two doubles and a single, strikes out her looking on three pitches, but he will take that night’s work and starting to get that average moving in the right direction.
Bottom 8th: Downs still pitching. Branyan at bat, strikes out. One down for Marson, full count, fly ball to Lewis in left centre. Two down for Valbuena.Full count. Walks him. Grudzielanek, Gregg warming up in bullpen, strikes out. Downs has done his job.

Top 9th: Top of the order, Lewis leading off. Double, single and a walk, for Fred tonight, he appears to be getting more comfortable each game. I love the speed he brings and uses, pops up here to short, one down for Hill. Singles into left, his second of the night. Lind, 0-4 night, 0-16 streak, slump, fly ball top centre right two down. Hill stays at first. Wells, lines it opposite field but right at second base.
Bottom 9th: Gregg out for the second night but he won’t mind as it means game is on the line. Sizemore leading off strikes out. Choo, grounds to Bautista, low throw to Overbay for the second out. Kearns, oh what a play, grounds to Bautista diving to his left to make the play but still throw shim out, very nice play Jose. Major decision when Encarnacion returns because Bautista is playing so well at third and right field. I would keep him at third especially if young Travis appears to be out of his own slump. Decisions Cito.

Jays win another 8-5 tonight.

The excellent: Have to give young Snider the praise tonight, he has battled all season so far. Three hits tonight including two doubles, one to right and the other to left. Plus a stolen base. And his average now up to .193. Let’s get it over the .200 tomorrow Travis.

Very good: The bullpen of Camp, Downs and Gregg three scoreless innings. The hitters must feel so confident to know that this bullpen is coming in at the end of the games t give them a chance almost every single game.

Good. Gregg another save 7/7 we tend to forget him at the end but he has earned the closer role for now and definitely made us forget Frasor….. Romero was good, struggled throughout and at times was untouchable. I worry about those wild pitches though and wonder whether catcher takes some blame. One of the knocks on Buck is that he is not as good a defensive catcher as Molina. I wonder if Cito will give him a rest tomorrow with day game? Wells, even though Vernon was hitless he had three walks including important RBI. Jays take nine walks this game…. And that was a huge difference tonight. Two hits each for Hill, Lewis and Bautista. Hill especially now getting into that groove he was in last year and with Lewis in front of him, they are making the difference for Vernon at least behind.

The bad: Has to be Lind with Overbay close behind but Lyle at least redeemed himself in his last at bat plus his walk. These two are big bats and Jays need them but perhaps theywil get it together in the dog days of summer if the others wilt. Again will be interesting to see who Cito rests tomorrow. Ruiz at first ?