Jays home run power and Morrow win this one but Janssen makes it close

Jays v Orioles. Game one of three. Monday July 26.

Escobar’s debut at Rogers Centre. Cito made interesting comment last night about the double headers. Said he has never swept one. Perhaps that could be your pitcher selection Cito. It will certainly reinforce the naysayers about your inability to work with pitchers. And yesterday’s selection with Tallet to start the 8th. And so the legacy continues.

Lineups: Orioles: Roberts, Tejada, Markakis, Scott, Jones, Pie, Wieters, Fox, Izturis.
Jays: Lewis, Escobar, Bautista, Wells, Lind, Hill, Overbay, Encarnacion, Molina.
No surprises here. Hill back in the lineup.

Pitching: Morrow v Bergesen. Morrow’s 26th birthday today.

Top 1st: Roberts leading off back from injury. 2-0 count. 2-2, pops up to Hill in shallow right. Tejada, grounds to Encarnacion at third, throw to Overbay, two down. Markakis, always dangerous against Jays. Singles to right. Never underestimate Markakis despite his slump. Scott, with two down and one on. Pops up first pitch to Escobar to end the inning. 9 pitch count.
Bottom 1st: Lewis leading off. 1-1 count. Pops up to Izturis at short. Escobar, 2-0 pops up to Fox at first. Two down. Bautista, another pop up to Izturis to end this inning. 9 pitch count also. 15 pitches.

Top 2nd: Scott, grounds to Escobar throw to Overbay one down. Jones, pops up first pitch to Lewis in left, two down. Pie, 1-2 count, walks him. Fox with runner at first, two down. 1-2 and strikes him out. 24 pitches.
Bottom 2nd: Wells leading off. Doubles to the wall in left just beats the throw. That was close but throw was off base. Lind with Vernon at second. 2-1 count, 2-2, singles up the middle Vernon had to hold and only gets to third. Two on no outs for Hill. Chance to get the monkey off his back. .198 average. That’s better Aaron, singles to left, here comes Vernon. 1-0 Jays. Hill back over the .200 level. Overbay grounds to Roberts at second on to Izturis back to Fox at first double play. Two down Encarnacion. Lind at third. 3-0 count. Pops it up to Markakis in right. Jays get going first here. Could have, should have been more. 27 pitches.

Top 3rd: Izturis leading off. Grounds to Overbay at first, flip to Morrow one down. Roberts, grounds to Hill throw to Overbay, two down. Tejada, 2-0 count, 2-2, grounds to Overbay steps on the bag for the out. 36 pitches.
Bottom 3rd: Molina, grounds to Tejada, nice throw on the run, Molina too slow to beat this one out, one down. Lewis, pops up to Jones in centre, two down. Escobar, lines it very hard and high to Markakis right at the wall. Almost. But, three up and down here, they are really speeding through this one. 40 minutes for three innings. 33 pitches.

Top 4th: Markakis leading off. 3-1 count. Ball four, one on for Scott, pops up to Encarnacion at third. One down. Jones, with one on and one down. 2-1 count. Doubles into the seats in left. Two in scoring position for Pie. Morrow in trouble here for first time. 2-1 count. Count full. Strikes out swinging. Huge out. Two down. Wieters, still not out of trouble. 2-0 count. 3-0, ball four to load the bases. Fox 1-1 count, strike two. 2-2, gets him strike three. Morrow escapes this time. BUT 62 pitches.
Bottom 4th: Jays turn here, they may be regretting missed chances in that second inning now. Bautista leading off. 0-1 count. Doubles down the line into left corner. Wells, 0-2 count. Pitching Vernon outside. Grounds to Izturis throw to first in time very very close, One down for Lind. Doubles off the wall in left, here comes Bautista, 2-0 Jays. Hill, Yes Aaron gets hold of this one same place into left field seats this one is out of here. 4-0 Jays. Overbay grounds to first, Encarnacion with two down. Grounds to short, bobbles it and throw too late. Encarnacion at first. Molina, grounds to Roberts at second, gets Molina at first. Hill now 2-2 tonight. Jays getting contributions tonight from Wells, Lind and Hill for a change let’s hope it continues now for two months. Pitch count 50.

Top 5th: Morrow has a nice lead to work with now. Can he hold it here? Izturis leading off. Strikes out, one down for Roberts doubles to centre right. One on for Tejada, grounds to Escobar looks Roberts back to second throw to Overbay, two down. Markakis, 1-1. Pops up to Lewis for third out. 73 pitches.
Bottom 5th: Lewis, 2-1 count. 3-1, ball four. Lewis on base for Escobar, bunting ? No, 0-1 count. doubles into opposite field right corner, two in scoring position for Bautista, OH YES Jose……over the fences in left centre here comes Lewis, here comes Escobar, and finally here comes Bautista 7-0 Jays. Wells, 2-2 count. pops up to Izturis at short. One down. Lind, gets hold of this one lines it over the wall in center, home run. Adam breaking out tonight. Single, double and home run. Finally getting him going. 8-0 Jays. Here comes the Manager. Hill now 3-1 count. Fly ball to Pie in left, two down. Overbay 1-2 count. Strikes out swinging. Jays get four more. 75 pitches.

Top 6th: Scott leading off. 1-2 count. Count full. Ball four. One on for Jones, 2-2 count. full count, strikes out looking, strike out number five. Pie with Scott at first. 1-2 count. another full count. Morrow pushing up the count. Strike three looking, two down. Wieters, first pitch into right field seats second deck. Power. 8-2 Jays. Bullpen working poor Casey Janssen, he has not pitched for long time. Casey was up and down in the bullpen all weekend. Fox doubles to left corner. Walton out to talk to Morrow, on a 100 pitch count tonight and giving Casey some time. If he loses him here Cito will get Casey. Izturis,1-2 count. Grounds to Hill, throw to Overbay. That is probably it for Morrow.
Bottom 6th: Amazing that Bergesen has only had 76 pitches with all the runs but another indicator of the aggressive first pitch hitting by Jays, they don’t go deep into the count much. Encarnacion leading off. Singles into left. Here comes Manager Manuel, Matt Albers now pitching. Molina, with one on. 2-2 count. full count, ball four. Two on for Lewis. Singles into centre, throw to second gets Molina. One down two on for Escobar. Strikes out looking, looks low. Two down for Bautista, first pitch pops up to Markakis in right to end the inning.

Top 7th: Casey Janssen now pitching. Roberts leading off. Bounces one to Hill at second, one down. Tejada grounds to Hill throw to Janssen at first for second out. Markakis, Ouch, hits him on the wrist. Scott with two down and runner Markakis at first. Ooops, gets hold of this one bigtime, this one is out of here, into second deck in right, two run home run. 8-4 Jays. Jones with two down, 1-2 count and strikes him out.
Bottom 7th: Wells leading off. 2-0 count. Strikes out. Lind hitting for cycle but the triple is the hardest, just hit it Adam. Not this time, grounds to first for the out. Two down, Hill, two hits tonight. Grounds to Izturis, throw to first for the out.

Top 8th: Big inning here for Baltimore to try to reduce the deficit. Janssen still pitching. Pie leading off. 2-2 count. Nice pitch strikes him out, great curve. One down for Wieters, 0-2 count, very close, 1-2, count full. Oh oh….. lines it into left just over the wall above Lewis, his second home run tonight.8-5 Jays. Fox lines it to the wall into right Bautista throw way ahead of runner. Two down. Izturis singles into centre. One on two down. Roberts. Crowd a little quiet here. !!! Purcey working in bullpen. 1-2 count. 2-2, singles to right. Izturis to third. That’s it for Casey tonight. Purcey now pitching. Tie run at the plate, wow after 8-0 lead. Tejada, pops up to Wells in shallow centre.
Bottom 8th: Overbay leading off. Albers still out there. 1-1 count. 2-2, strikes out swinging. Encarnacion, lifts it into shallow right, three players converge and drops in the middle. One on one down for Molina. Singles to right. Encarnacion at second. Lewis, with two on and one down. Gregg working in bullpen. McCoy pinch running for Encarnacion. 2-0 count. That should do it singles to right centre, McCoy scores easily. But Molina thrown out by Jones at third. 9-5 Jays. Cito will be second guessed about not pinch running for Molina as well as Encarnacion. Escobar. 2-0 count. Lewis at second. Gregg now sitting down so Purcey will try to finish this one and get first save. Full count, Fred will be running. Escobar strikes out.

Top 9th: Purcey still out there. McCoy at third. Markakis leading off, grounds to Hill throw to Overbay, one down. Scott, bounces one down the line, Overbay nice play throw to Purcey for second out. Jones 2-2 count. Strikes out swinging. Jays bullpen makes it interesting but Jays lead from the start. Morrow gets the win.
Yankees and Tampa both win. Boston on the west coast.

The very good: Morrow win number 7 but downside was his pitch count, too many full count hitters and walks (four).
The good: Lind and Hill breakout nights finally. Hill 2-2 first two at bats Lind three hits including the home run. Bautista home run number 28 and a superb strike from right field corner to get Fox in the 8th. Encarnacion with two hits. 13 hit night for Jays and only Overbay without. Purcey to finish it off.
The bad: Bullpen bullpen and bullpen. Janssen giving up three runs and getting tie run for Baltimore at the plate.