Jays fight back but leave it too late to recover from disasterous outing by Eveland

Game two of three. Saturday May 22. Toronto v Arizona.

Lineups: Toronto: Bautista, Hill, Lind, Wells, Overbay, Gonzalez, Buck, Encarnacion, Eveland.
Arizona: Johnson, Abreu, Jackson, Upton, LaRoche, Reynolds, Young, Hester Jackson.

Pitching: Edwin Jackson v Dana Eveland. Which Eveland will show up tonight? and will this be his last game if he bombs? Vegas is not far from here.

Top 1st: Bautista leading off, Lewis not playing to day to give Adam Lind a chance. I give full credit to Cito last night for bringing in Lind for a pinch hit two down in the ninth. He did his job with the home run to get within two. It was Hill who could not come through. Good to see Jose leading off, he was so good in the spring and indeed until Fred Lewis came on the scene. Pops this one up to Upton in shallow right for first out. One down for Hill, this is the guy who really needs help. Sad to see him struggling every game like this. We know he will break out, just please soon…Not this at bat, pops up to Jackson in left for second out. Lind grounds first pitch to Johnson at second throw to LaRoche at first and a very quick and easy three up and down for Jackson.
Bottom 1st: Kelly Johnson leading off, here we go again 3-0 count. Walks him. One on for Abreu, Pops it up to Bautista in shallow right, one down one on for Conor Jackson, grounds to Hill moving to his left , nice play to throw him out at first, two down. Johnson moves to second. Upton. singles to left, runner holds at third. LaRoche, with two on. singles in to shallow right, run scores 1-0 Arizona. Upton was running on the play and gets to third. Reynolds off the wall in left, run scores 2—0. Runners at second and third. Eveland has nothing again tonight. Hester doubles down third base line, two more runs, this is a massacre in the first inning. 4-0 Arizona. Grounds to Gonzalez throw to first for third out, but Eveland has dug another huge hole for his teammates and making it easy for Cito when Tallet and Rzepczynski are ready to return.

Top 2nd: Jays in a hole Wells leading off. That’s better doubles into left corner. Overbay, bring him in Lyle. Wild pitch and Vernon moves to third. Keep ‘em coming here. 3-0 count. Grounds to first for the out but Vernon scores 4-1. Gonzalez, Pops it up to Young in shallow centre, two down for Buck, That’s the third wild pitch so far. Strikes out swinging but Jays get one back, Can Eveland hold D-Backs in this inning?
Bottom 2nd: Pitcher Jackson, Eveland shaking off six signs ??? come on. Strikes him out on three pitches. Top of the order again Kelly Johnson. Doubles into right. One down for Abreu. Singles into right. Johnson holds at third. Two on and only one out. Jackson, doubles into right. How much longer will Cito let this garbage go on? 5-1 Arizona. Now the bullpen action. May be too late once again for second night in a row. Upton intentional walk to load bases. LaRoche, here comes Cito. Can you imagine what he says? leaving him in. Probably said bus ticket to Vegas is waiting for you if you don’t get out of this mess. Singles into right. Here comes run number six and that’s it, Cito walking out again, finished. Doesn’t say a word. Puts his glove out to take the ball. 46 pitches to get four outs one of whom was the other pitcher. 6-1. Rommie Lewis with bases loaded poor guy. The only out Eveland had this inning was the pitcher !!! Reynolds, high fly ball foul. Strikes him out, well done Rommie, that is a great hitter, with 100 home runs since 2007. Young with two down and bases still loaded. Full count. Singles into left, two more runs score 8-1 Arizona. Hester, Strikes him out, didn’t bother to swing and this embarrassment is over. Two innings has taken two hours and Encarnacion has not had a bat yet. D-Backs have nine hits already. Jays have one.

Top 3rd: Encarnacion gets his first at bat. How do you reply to a seven run deficit in first two innings ? Full count. Pops it up to short. One down for Rommie Lewis, strikes out swinging. Bautista another wild pitch, if only Jay could get a player on base they might get a run here. Strikes out. Seven run deficit is impossible even for this team.
Bottom 3rd: Boston hammering Philadelphia tonight so it looks as if they will close n Jays tonight. Pitcher Jackson. Pops it up to Hill on first pitch terrible swing. But Jays will take an out anyway they can. Johnson, grounds to Hill, throw to Overbay for the out. Abreu with two down. grounds to Gonzalez at short throw to Overbay for third out. It look s as D-Backs want to finish this thing off quickly now they have it in the bag and get out of the town early tonight. They are swinging and not taking pitches the way they have been doing earlier. As for the Jays, well let’s see what they have in mind.

Top 4th: Hill leading off. Average at .162, can’t buy any hit these days, strikes out. Problem now is that he goes after every pitch bad or good and the pitchers have his number. Lind, pops it up to left for the second out. Wells the only guy with any hit. Strikes out swinging at a pitch that actually bounced ! outside. I guess that inning answers my question, these guys have given up and I really can’t blame them it is must be disheartening to constantly have to fight back form huge deficits. Forget this one and get some sleep and try again tomorrow and maybe avoid an embarrassing sweep.
Bottom 4th: Jackson pops it up to shallow centre for Wells, one down. Another quick out. Upton, lines at Gonzalez, nice catch two down. LaRoche, swinging away, fly ball to Wells in centre, three up and down that tells the story. Let’s get to the ninth inning fast here.

Top 5th: Overbay leading off. Grounds first pitch to short, throw to first for the out. Gonzalez, singles to left, only the SECOND hit tonight by Jays and that is against a pitcher who has not pitched well and thrown at least four wild pitches. Will not win many games like that. Buck, one down one on. Grounds to short, from his knees throws out Gonzalez but not in time for two at first. Two down for Encarnacion. Grounds to short, throw to second to get Buck.
Bottom 5th: Might be last inning for Rommie here as he is up to bat at top of the sixth. Reynolds leading off, fly ball to Wells in centre. One down for Young, grounds to Gonzalez at short, throw to Overbay for out number two. Hester, pops it up to Buck for third out. This game is racing along now. An hour to do the first two and les than forty minutes to do the next three. That is what an 8-1 lead will do to two teams.

Top 6th: Pinch hitter for Lewis? How about Johnny Mc. for Hill? No McCoy, grounds to third, throw to first and that’s it tonight for you Mike. Bautista strikes out swinging, two down for Hill, last chance Aaron. I think McCoy may be staying in there, lines out to left, for third out.
Bottom 6th: Lewis in for Wells McCoy in for Bautista and Casey Janssen pitching. Edwin Jackson hitting. Just standing there taking them ball three, come on Casey, this is the pitcher. Full count. Strikes out, I should think so. One down for Johnson, strikes out swinging. Two down for Abreu. Grounds first pitch to third, great running play by Encarnacion to get him at first.

Top 7th: Jays last nine outs to get seven runs. Not impossible but Cito obviously has already given up on this lot tonight. Lind, grounds to first, one down. Fred Lewis, now in for Vernon. Strikes out, two down. Overbay, Full count another wild pitch but no runners on to take advantage. 93 pitch count for Jackson. Grounds to first for third out.
Bottom 7th: Johnny Mc. in at short for Gonzalez. Camp pitching, Jackson lines first pitch to Lewis in centre, one down for Upton. Singles to left. LaRoche, grounds to first throw to second back to Camp covering for double pay ball.

Top 8th: Johnny Mc. for Gonzalez. Ojeda playing at second, Way to go Johnny Mc, singles unto left, I love that guy. Sits on the bench for weeks and then when he gets the chance does more than the rest of them. Buck with one on. wild pitch I told you so, Johnny at second, Whoa no one been there for long time. Buck singles to left, two on and no outs Johnny Mc at third. Encarnacion, OH EDWIN…. Does it again huge home run into left, here comes Johnny Mc her comes Buck and here comes three runs score.8- 4. Déjà vu all over again. Another wild pitch. McCoy, strikes out. Jeremy Reed another chance, one down. Come on Jeremy 0-2 another wild pitch, If only Jays had had hitters on base tonight. Strikes out swinging. Two down for Hill. 0-3 tonight. 3-0 count, that’s what we need Aaron. Base runner even if you are unable to hit you can contribute here. OH BOY, YES Aaron gets hold of this one, home run to left, 8-5. And that’s it for Jackson. They left him, far too long this inning way over 100 pitches, (115) surely they could see he was tiring. Now pitching. Esmerling Vasquez, Lind pops it up to third, nice sliding catch by Reynolds at the dugout. But what a comeback. Just like last night, but maybe just maybe it can be different tonight. Great to see Aaron connect on one. Encarnacion is in his own space right now, may it never end. Four home runs in two games.

Bottom 8th: Jays back in this one or are they? Reed in left field. Frasor now pitching, different game here though he has to hold them here. Reynolds, strikes out, one down. Young, strikes out swinging. Two down. Hester, fouling off a lot of pitches here, full count, walks him. Rusty Ryal pinch hitting. Grounds to Encarnacion at third throw to second to get Hester. Nice pitching Jason.

Top 9th: Last chance here for Jays but a lot better than it was half an hour ago. Need base runners though. Lewis leading off, facing Qualls who finished Jays off last night. Grounds to second throw to first for the out. One down for Overbay, come on Lyle your turn to hit it out. 0-3 tonight. 3-1 count, he will be coming down the middle. That’s my boy, singles it into centre. Base runners are what we need here. Johnny Mc. not this time, strikes out, two down for Buck. 0-2 count. fouling them off here, strikes out. Ball gets away but out at first. Jays try but fall short yet again. The eight run deficit too much to comeback from.
Tampa wins, Boston wins Yankees losing.

The very good: Nothing until that eighth inning. Encarnacion incredible three run home run and let’s give Aaron a medal tonight for his home run. Everyone wants him to get going and maybe that was it tonight.
The good: Nothing tonight for Jays until the eighth. Hard to come back from 8-0 deficit. After two innings, they really just went through the motions for the rest of the game until that eighth and let’s give Johnny Mc. a star for getting this going. The bullpen of Rommie Lewis, Camp and Frasor for hanging in there.
Not so good: McCoy and Jeremy Reed disappointing so far. Reed should be taking every advantage of Travis injury. But has not done so. McCoy just looks outmatched.
The very bad: Eveland awful outing 1 1/3 innings. Had nothing at all and as mentioned this could have been his last outing.

Right now it looks as if Morrow and Eveland are the odd ones out in this rotation and should be the obvious choice to go to Vegas when the injured players return. BUT the way Eveland pitched tonight I would not be surprised if Jays did not act tonight, and either release him outright or send him to Vegas.
Tomorrow Jays have to avoid a sweep and get back on track here.