Finale Toronto v Texas, Sunday May 16.
Chance for the Jays sweep if Morrow can perform a lot better than his last outing. Boston beaten last night in extra innings in Detroit enables Jays to put even more daylight between them if they can win this one.
Lineups: Texas: Murphy, Young, Hamilton, Cruz, Kinsler, Smoak, Treanor, Blanco, Borbon,
Toronto: Lewis, Hill, Lind, Wells, Overbay, Gonzalez, Bautista, Buck, McCoy in place of injured Snider. Travis evidently injured his wrist hitting on Friday.
Great weather today, roof open and it looks as if we might get a big crowd. I can always tell by looking at position of the security in fifth deck as Jays sell tickets by section and move towards the foul poles. The security personnel are just a couple of sections away from the foul poles so this will mean way over 20,000 for a change. Jays playing well, great weather and a giveaway hat for first 10,000.
Top 1st: Murphy leading off grounds to third, safe at first on the play. Morrow goes for the ball ion front of Bautista but cannot get it out of his glove for the throw. Morrow can’t afford plays like that. Young singles to centre, Murphy to third. Two on and no outs for Hamilton, strikes out. Young is going on the play and great throw by Buck to get him double play. That is huge for Morrow. Has another chance here. Cruz strikes out leaving Murphy at third. Morrow escapes after getting first two on and no outs.
Bottom 1st: Lewis leading off strikes out. Hill strikes out. Lind grounds back to pitcher Lewis throw to Smoak at first base. Jays go quietly.
Top 2nd: Kinsler doubles to center. Smoak singles to left, Kinsler to third. Morrow in trouble again, he can’t expect to escape this all afternoon. Treanor with two on, here we go, sacrifice fly to Lewis in right, shallow enough but Fred’s throw is up the line and Kinsler scores easily, 1-0 Texas. I don’t think they would have scored on Snider and definitely not on Bautista he has a bullet throw. Today however we have Lewis in right to ill in for Travis. Blanco fly ball to McCoy in left. Two down for Borbon, strikes out. Texas draws first blood and their first run since Friday evening.
Bottom 2nd: Wells leading off full count and walks. Someone will be checking this out in more detail but I am sure that Vernon has been walking far more in the last month so that pitchers can get to Overbay behind him. Cito has to make a change there even if Lyle stays in the lineup, move him down and protect Vernon with Bautista or even Gonzalez. Overbay fly ball to Murphy in left for first out. Gonzalez pops up to Murphy in left, two down. Bautista pops up to Young at third. Lewis pitching well so far shutting Jays down.
Top 3rd: Murphy lines to Wells in centre. Young fly ball to Lewis in right. Two down for Hamilton, strikes out. Second strikeout for Hamilton today. Much better inning for Morrow and his first three up and down.
Bottom 3rd: Buck grounds to Blanco at shirt throw to Smoak at first. McCoy strikes out. Lewis pops up to Blanco at short.
Top 4th: Cruz strikes out. Number four for Morrow. Kinsler grounds to Gonzalez at short, throw to Overbay for second out. Smoak singles to centre. One on two down for Treanor, fly ball to McCoy.
Bottom 4th: Hill leading off, full count and walks. Lind strikes out. Wells strikes out. Two down for Overbay. Hill going and steals second without a throw. Overbay hit by a pitch. Gonzalez singles to left, here comes Hill 1-1, Overbay to second. Bautista full count and walks, bases loaded. Overbay at third, Gonzalez at second. Crowd noisy now. Buck gets hold of this one this one is out of here over the 400 feet sign. Here comes Overbay. Here comes Gonzalez. Here comes Bautista. Clearing the bases but wait a minute, Buck stopping at second. Some doubt here whether that went out ??? Cito is out there, umpires calling for review. Call stands. Buck left with a three run double, that is too bad, that could have been grand slam. However three will make it 4-1 and Jays are breaking this one open. McCoy grounds to Young at third, throw to Smoak at first to end this inning. Lewis was sailing along until this inning.
Top 5th: Rangers fifth. Blanco strikes out, safe on Morrow wild pitch. Borbon singled to left, Blanco to second. Murphy flied out to center fielder Wells. Young grounded into a double play, shortstop Gonzalez to first baseman Overbay, Borbon out.
Bottom 5th: Lewis leading off fly ball to Murphy in left one down. Hill full count and walks. Lind fly ball to Murphy in left. Wells lines to Cruz in right. Another good inning by Lewis. If he only had some Texas run support.
Top 6th: Hamilton fly ball to Lewis in right. Cruz strikes out. Kinsler strikes out. Great three up and down inning for Morrow. Seven strikeouts.
Bottom 6th: Overbay leading off grounds to Kinsler throw to Smoak for the out. Gonzalez pops up to Blanco at short. Bautista, oh my gets hold of this one, no doubt about this, another home run for Jose his third in 24 hours. 5-1 Jays. That’s it for Lewis, he actually pitched very well, if he takes out the run double by Buck. Ray now pitching. Buck full count and walks. McCoy strikes out.
Top 7th: Smoak 3-0 and walks on four pitches. Treanor grounds to short, oh my what a mess-up, Bautista takes the play in front of Gonzalez but just has he was throwing Gonzalez collides with Jose. Treanor safe at first, Smoak to second. Andrus now pinch-hitting for Blanco. This could be trouble for Morrow now. Andrus singles to right, bases are loaded and no one is out. Smoak at third, Treanor at second. Guerrero now pinch-hitting for Borbon. That’s it for Morrow, here comes Cito. Frasor now pitching. Guerrero grounds to Gonzalez, to Hill on to Overbay, double play. Smoak scores but that could have been a lot worse if Guerrero had connected on one of his big swings. 5-2 Jays. Murphy with two down but Treanor at third, grounds to Bautista throw to Overbay to end this one. Good pitching Jason.
Bottom 7th: Here comes Manager Washington to pull Ray as he finishes his warm-up? That is the type of play that not only adds time to the games but does not reflect well on a manager. If he does not have his relief pitcher ready then he is not doing his job.
Murphy in at centre. Cruz in left field. Andrus at short. Guerrero in right field. Oliver now replacing Ray and pitching. Lewis strikes out. Hill fouls out to Smoak at first. Lind strikes out. Adam still not in last year’s groove with his hitting.
Top 8th: Downs now pitching. Young leading off fly ball to Lewis in right. Hamilton strikes out. Cruz strikes out.
Bottom 8th: Francisco pitching. Wells leading off strikes out, not a great day at the plate for Vernon. Overbay strikes out. Gonzalez grounds to Young at third throw to Smoak at first to end the three up and down inning.
Top 9th: Gregg now pitching. We have not seen him for a while. He has been so quiet he already has league leading ten saves. 10/11 opportunities. Kinsler leading off singles to right. Smoak with one on, strikes out. Ramirez now pinch-hitting for Treanor. Ramirez grounds to Gonzalez, to Hill on to Overbay, double play. Great way to end this one and the fourth double play by Jays this afternoon.
Jays win 5-2 and sweep Texas. Rangers are not a bad team and have some excellent hitters so this was a good home series to win for the Jays. Tomorrow the Twins, have just beaten the Yankees in New York so they will be flying high. Jays will need some excellent all round pay to beat them and it is Eveland tomorrow night. Dana has not been the best of the rotation by any means. Crowd total announced over 25,500. Great to see and hear. They were really into the game all afternoon and didn’t need any jumbotron to get noisy especially when Buck hit that three run double. And this game is short, just over the two and a half hour mark.
The very good : Morrow, Buck of course just missing that grand slam but the three runs broke this one open. Bautista with yet another home run. Bringing his total to ten. The bullpen to keep the win alive. Frasor especially coming in with bases loaded and no one out, to get out of it with only one run scored. That was a key play of the game. FOUR double plays turned by the Jays. To win with only three hits. All Jays hits from bottom of the order. Jays outscored with hits 8-3 but win. Gregg with his league leading save number eleven.
Boston has lost their second in Detroit and back to .500 19-19. Jays 23-16 open up even more space. Yankees still playing. Important not to lose pace with them and also keep within distance of Tampa.
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