Great start by Romero with great support from Hill and new kid Escobar.

Jays v Orioles. Game One of three. Friday July 16.

Start of second half and already changes in the team. Farewell to Gonzalez and hello to Escobar from the Braves. Lots of great potential with Escobar but as with Hill and Lind having rough first half. Perhaps change of scenery will help him. It certainly has done for Rios.

Lineups: Jays: Lewis, Escobar, Bautista, Wells, Lind, Hill, Overbay, Buck, Encarnacion.
Orioles: Patterson, Tejada, Markakis, Wigginton, Jones, Pie, Tatum, Lugo, Izturis.

Top 1st: Lewis leading off, doubles to right. Escobar, first at bat for his new team, bunting ??? when did we see this last? Successfully I mean, perfect drag bunt up third baseline, great bunt, and Escobar safe himself at first, no play for Tejada one upside of getting a National League guy, and this guy has speed as well. Lewis to third. Bautista strikes out. One down for Wells, sac fly to Jones, here comes Lewis, 1-0 Jays. Lind with two down grounds to Lugo to first baseman Wigginton. 22 pitches.
Bottom 1st: Patterson leading off pops up to Buck, one down. Tejada, grounds to Hill at second throw to Overbay at first, two down. Two quick outs for Romero. Markakis 3-1 count. Pops it up to Buck. 10 pitch inning for Ricky. That should give him some confidence.

Top 2nd: Hill lines it to left centre, this one is out of here. Aaron thinks it a double and has to be told it went out. 2-0 Jays. Overbay full count, strikes out swinging. Buck first pitch swinging, fly ball to left two down. Encarnacion, grounds to short for third out but Jays strike again 2-0. Bergesen 34 pitches.
Bottom 2nd: Wigginton leading off., grounds to Escobar at second strong throw to Overbay. Nice throw. Jones with one down, full count, strikes out looking, Jones doesn’t agree but two down. Pie, grounds first pitch up the middle, Hill ranging to his right makes nice play and strong throw to first for third out. Hill really playing well so far. Romero 20 pitches.

Top 3rd: Lewis singles in to right, 2-2 tonight. Escobar, will he be bunting again? Wild pitch and Lewis to second without the bunt. 2-2 count. Full count, this guy is patient. He was down 0-2. Ball four. On base for second time. Two on and no outs for Bautista. Would love to see double steal here, come on Cito why not. Strikes out looking. One down for Wells, 1-2 count. lifts it into shallow centre Izturis makes the catch. Two down for Lind, singles to right. Here comes Lewis to beat the throw and score 3-0 Jays. Escobar to third. Hill, with two on grounds to third throw to first for the out. Bergeson pitch count now at 55, ouch.
Bottom 3rd: Tatum leading off, 2-2 count. Grounds up the middle, wow great play by Escobar, gets the ball whirls and throws to Overbay. For the out. WOW. Great play. Lugo with one down. Grounds to Hill, throw to Overbay for second out. Izturis hammers the first pitch to the wall in centre no problem for Vernon. Makes the catch and three up and down for Romero. and retires the lineup in order first time through. Pitch count 31. He will take that for three innings.

Top 4th: Overbay leading off. Walks. One on for Buck drives it into left. Two on for Encarnacion. Ex-Jay Hendrickson now warming up in bullpen. 0-2 count on Encarnacion. 2-2 count. Oh boy grounds to third, throw to second on to first double play ball. Two down for Lewis with runner at third. Grounds to second, throw to first for the out. Overbay left at third. 68 pitches for Bergesen.
Bottom 4th: Top of Orioles order Patterson leading off. Grounds to Overbay, takes it himself for the out. Tejada, full count. Lines it right at Wells in centre, Vernon doesn’t move for the out. Markakis, grounds to Hill throw to Overbay for third out. Three up and down. Pitch count 42.

Top 5th: Escobar leading off. Grounds first pitch to third, throw to first for the out. I hope he is not listening to Cito. Bautista showing bunt. Grounds to short, throw to first for second out. Wells, singles to left. One on for Lind. Grounds back to Bergeson throw to first for the out. 76 pitches. The shortest inning for Bergesen, those first pitch swings will do that.
Bottom 5th: Wigginton lines it to Lewis in left, first Orioles base hit off Romero. Goes to second on fumble by Lewis. Error on the play. Jones, 2-2 count, strikes him out swinging, one down for Pie, lifts it into shallow left, Wigginton holds at third. Two on one down for Tatum, 1-2 count, strikes him out looking, two down. Lugo, grounds to right, Hill knocks it down but cannot make the throw, run scores 3-1 Jays. Izturis with two on and two down. 0-2, 2-2, ball three. Runners going. OH NO!!!! grounds to third under the glove of Encarnacion into left, runner scores two in scoring position. Error on Encarnacion, I for one will be glad when Travis is back. Bautista will be at third. Encarnacion is awful at third. Patterson. Romero not being helped by his defence here. Two errors now in the inning. 1-2 and strikes out. Rough inning for Ricky but look no further than Encarnacion for the goat this time. Pitch count now balloons to 66. 24 pitch inning.

Top 6th: Jays offence owes Ricky here. Hill leading off. 2-2 count. Lines this one opposite field and off the wall in right, Markakis nice retrieval and Aaron has to stop at second. Overbay, 2-0 count. Yes Lyle, doubles off the wall in left, here comes Aaron. 4-2 Jays. Two consecutive hits to the opposite field, I like that. Buck with Lyle at second and no outs. Grounds to third, throw to first. Albers ready in Orioles bullpen. One down for Encarnacion, needs to redeem himself here, not this way, fly ball to Jones in centre, Lyle moves to third but there are two outs, needed a single there. Lewis he gets a chance to redeem himself. Oh boy, grounds first pitch of course, to first for the out. Now good hitting by Encarnacion and Lewis. 93 pitches for Bergesen with better at bats by those two he would be out of the game.
Bottom 6th: Tejada leading off. 3-1 count. Strike two, Ball four. One on for Markakis. That’s better lines it to Overbay throw to Escobar at second, back to Lyle, double play ball. First double play for Escobar as a Jay. Wigginton, 2-2 count. Bounces one to Escobar throw to Overbay for the out. 79 pitches.

Top 7th: Escobar leading off, busy guy, certainly getting into his first game here. Albers now pitching. Grounds slowly to third, Tejada bobbles the ball because he knows Escobar is fast, speed kills eh Cito? Great to have it in the Jays lineup for a change. Safe at first error on Tejada. Bautista, will Escobar be running here? No Bautista grounds back to Albers, bobbles it, throw to second to get Escobar no chance to get two. Wells, gets hold of this one (first pitch) high into the left field corner, foul. 2-2 leaving the one outside alone. Not this time, goes after ball outside, grounds back to Albers, throw to first over to second double play ball. Not a very good at bat by Wells. But once again Jays have to get that runner to second, use his speed Cito, send him right away if only to see how Escobar does.
Bottom 7th: Jones leading off. Better crowd now I guess they just come in late here. Grounds to Encarnacion at third, throw to Overbay just gets him, one down for Pie. Lines it to left off the wall for Lewis, Pie at second. Jays bullpen working. Tatum, grounds to Encarnacion, high throw to Overbay at first for out number two. Runner stays at second. Camp now up in bullpen. Lugo, 1-2 count. Grounds slow roller to Encarnacion throw to first not in time. Pie moves to third. Izturis with two on and two down. 0-2 count. Strikes out swinging on three pitches. Very nice Ricky. 95 pitches, that could be it for tonight. Much better outing that the last two and it would have been even better with help from his fielders.

Top 8th: Lefty Will Ohman pitching for Lind and Overbay. Lind leading off. Grounds to third, throw to first one down. Hill, singles to centre, third hit tonight. One on for Overbay. Full count. Whoa lines it hard at Tejada. Hill running on the pitch scrambles to get back to first, Tejada throw up the line. Could have had him if he had taken his time. Two down and that’s it for the lefty Ohman. Koji Uehara now pitching. Buck with two down and one on. 1-2 count. Strikes out swinging.
Bottom 8th: Downs now pitching to hold this one for Jays. Patterson leading off. Great curve ball for a strike. 1-2 and strike three to get him. One down for Tejada, singles into left. One on one down for Markakis. Full count, Camp waiting in bullpen. Grounds to Escobar quick throw to Hill over to Overbay not in time. Two down. Here comes Cito, playing the percentages. That’s it for Downs, Camp now for Wigginton. 2-1 count. Doubles into centre, Markakis to third on the play, percentages do not work tonight for Cito. Pinch runner for Wigginton. Jones with two in scoring position. 1-2 count. Strikes out swinging. Camp makes it work but tense there for a while and we haven’t seen Kevin Gregg yet….

Top 9th: Uehara still pitching. Jays need to add at least on here. Encarnacion leading off. Oh man. First pitch swing pop up to short, one down. Travis please get back soon Lewis, 2-0 count. 2-2, full count, ball four and walks him. Escobar, pops it up in left for second out. Bautista, no, another pitching change. David Hernandez. 2-0, ball three, full count, Lewis at least will be running. Pops it up to Lugo in shallow right.
Bottom 9th: All down to Gregg now. Pie, leading off. Already has two hits tonight. OH BOY !!!! Lines it to short, great diving play by Escobar, what a play. Tatum with one down pops it up to Hill at second two down for Lugo. 0-2 count, Strikes him out looking. Six pitches for Gregg’s save number 21.

The very good: Romero had excellent outing almost ruined by the two errors by Lewis and Encarnacion. Hill three hits. Escobar, excellent start, great drag bunt single in his first at bat. Another hit with his speed gets on. Three great defensive plays. Jays get into Orioles bullpen in first game. Five pitchers. Gregg great six pitch inning to finish it off. Jays have added another dimension to this lineup with Escobar, speed and NL small ball smarts. Will Cito make the best of them?
The good: Downs and Camp scoreless inning. Jays get back to .500, now perhaps to start climbing and stay above .500.
The bad: Errors to Encarnacion fielding, Lewis fielding. Both let Orioles get back onto this one in the fifth inning. Jays remain weak at third.