Jays win a thriller with power, good pitching and defence

Game two of three. Jays v Twins. Wednesday July 7.

Jays need to get back on track with a win here tonight but it will be tough. Rzepczynski going for Marcum tonight, his first game for the first team this season. He should have been up here all season but for freak injury cutting his finger in Dunedin. I think he should stay up in rotation after All-Star break.

Lineups: Twins: Span, Hudson, Mauer, Morneau, Cuddyer, Kubel, Young, Valencia, Hardy.
Jays: Lewis, Gonzalez, Bautista, Wells, Lind, Buck, Overbay, Encarnacion, McDonald.
Sorry not to see Wise in the lineup, I hope Cito can get him in there somehow and more to the point if Vernon can actually do something with the bat. Hill also still on the sick list. Twins half a game out of Central Division lead. These games are important to them.

Pitching: Slowey v Rzepczynski

Top 1st: Span, grounds to Encarnacion, throw to Overbay at first one down. Hudson, grounds up the middle, Gonzalez knocks it down but no chance to make throw. Hudson at first now threat to steal. Mauer, 2-2 count. Full count, strikes out and now Hudson caught between first and second in run down and McDonald makes the tag. Nice double play. 10 pitches.
Bottom 1st: That’s the way to get crowd into the game. Can Jays capitalize here? Lewis, pops it up to Young in left, one down for Gonzalez. HOW about that, Alex lines this into left field bullpen right below Ozzie Jay’s seat. 1-0 Jays. Bautista, full count. Ball four high. One on one down for Wells. 0-18 drought. Time to get going here Vernon. First pitch, (sigh) grounds to third, to second over to first double play ball. We really missed you Vernon. He just doesn’t have it right now. A pitcher is in trouble and he does that first pitch. Awful is one word. 12 pitches.

Top 2nd: Morneau leading off. 2-2 count. strikes out, one down for Cuddyer. 2-2 count. Nice pitch freezes him on strike three. Kubel with two down. 2-2 count. Strike three freezes him again. Four strike outs. Pitch count 29.
Bottom 2nd: Lind leading off. Goes with this one and singles to left. Buck bunting? Joke. Pops up first pitch to Cuddyer in right. One down. Overbay, full count. lines it to left Young drops the ball. Lind to third Overbay at second. Lind had to hold. Two in scoring position for Encarnacion. Error to Young. Base hit Edwin. That’s all we need here. 2-2 count. Strikes out on pitch way high. McDonald, can he do anything here? Takes the first two, 0-2. Both were hittable. Pops this one up, lousy hitting by Jays unable to bring run in, let’s hope it does not hurt them later. Pitch count 33 for Slowey.

Top 3rd: Young leading off. 2-2 count. Count full. Grounds to Gonzalez, short, bat barrel just misses Rzepczynski, throw to first for the out. That was nasty. Valencia. Off his shoe heel into left field, safe at first. That was weird. Hardy, with one on and one down. Very nice, grounds to Gonzalez, flip to McDonald on to Overbay. Double play ball to get out of the inning. Pitch count 42.
Bottom 3rd: Lewis leading off. 2-2 count. Pops it up to shallow left for the first out. Gonzalez, check swing to avoid this one high strike out. Two down for Bautista. Singles into left. Wells at least he can’t ground into a double play. 0-19 goes the other way, lines it to Cuddyer for the third out. 0-20. Pitch count 47.

Top 4th: Rzepczynski not getting much help here yet from his hitters. Has no room for error. That’s the problem. Span leading off. 2-2 count. Grounds to third but too far for safe throw by Encarnacion, Span safe at first, watch him go here. Hudson. Oh boy…. Gets hold of this one over left field corner fence, 2-1 Twins. Mauer, doesn’t get any easier here Marc. 1-2 count. Strikes out. One down for Morneau. Grounds to McDonald at second, throw to Overbay, two down. Cuddyer, with two down. 2-2 count. Strike three looking, Strike out number six. Pitch count. 64.
Bottom 4th: Lind leading off. Jays hitters absent tonight so far. Grounds to Morneau, throw to Slowey for first out. Buck, one down full count. Lines it to Young in left, bounces away from Young and Buck gets to second. Overbay with runner in scoring position. 0/2 so far tonight. Pops it up to Young in left, two down. 0/3 runners in scoring position Encarnacion, lifts it into right, here comes Buck, Cuddyer great throw to get Encarnacion at second, but run counts 2-2 game. 59 Pitch count.

Top 5th: Kubel first pitch swing lines it to Wells in centre, one down. Young, this is trouble. Lifts this one high into left field bullpen. 3-2 Twins. Valencia, grounds to Encarnacion, great throw to Overbay just gets Valencia. Two down, Hardy bounces it into centre past McDonald, One on two down for Span. Fly ball to Bautista in shallow right centre in front of Wells for final out. Pitch count 76.
Bottom 5th: McDonald leading off. Singles into left. One on for Lewis. Bunting? No. Pops it up to third. Head way up in the air. One down for Gonzalez. 0-2 count. Strikes out. Bautista, 0-2 count, high and outside ball one. OH YEAH baby…. Lines it to left, Young and Span messes up the play and here comes McDonald and here comes Bautista, all the way, inside the park home run. WOW!!!! 4-3 Jays. Bautista laughing. No better or more exciting play to watch. Wells, with two down and 0-20. Grounds to second out at first. Just totally out of it these days. Arguing but he was out. 0-21. Cito you should have kept Wise out there. Pitch count. 73.

Top 6th: Hudson, 2-2 count. Strikes out, one down. Mauer, 2-1 count. Singles into left. Morneau with one on. Singles into right, two on. Cuddyer, Camp warming up in bullpen. 2-0 count. Ball three. Ball four to walk him and load the bases. Kubel dangerous guy with bases loaded. 2-0, 3-0, come on Marc. There’s a strike. Count full. Lines it to Lewis in left, two down but Mauer comes in to tie it yet again. 4-4 Game. Here comes Cito. Camp now pitching. Rzepczynski did well, kept the Jays in the game and should stay up after All-Star game in place of Litsch in rotation. Young with two on and two down. Runners at first and second, 2-2 count. Grounds to Gonzalez at short throw to McDonald at second for the third out. Jays escape a lot of damage there.
Bottom 6th: Lind leading off. 1-2 count. Strikes out swinging. Buck, pops it up to Span in shallow centre, two down. Overbay two down, 1-2 count. Full count. Singles into right field past diving Hudson, great at bat by Lyle there. One on two down for Encarnacion, 1-2 count. Lines it to Span in centre for the final out. Pitch count 92.
Top 7th: Camp still pitching. Valencia pops up to Overbay. One down. Hardy lines to McDonald at second. Two down for Span, singles to left. Hudson triples to right. Here comes Span. 5-4 Twins. Downs now pitching. Mauer fly ball to Wells in centre to end this one but Twins have gone ahead again.

Bottom 7th: No room now for Jays have to step it up here. McDonald leading off. Slowey still put there. Gives this one a ride to left Young just gets it at the wall. Lewis, this one is trouble going for three here, this guy can motor, triple number four this season. Now Jays have to bring him in here. That’s it for Slowey. Guerrier now pitching, Gonzalez at bat. 0-2 count. This should do it, fly ball to Span in centre, here comes the throw Lewis easily beats it out, this game is all tied up again. 5-5. Bautista, with two down. 2-2 with a walk tonight. 3-0 count. Swings over ball four. Full count. Ball four this time. Two down one on for Wells, Now about time Vernon. 0-21 is not All-Star. 0-2 count, FINALLY Vernon comes through. Lines it to the wall in centre, here comes Bautista, 6-5 Jays. Not sure many noticed but Vernon not hustling out of the box there, he thought he was out but Span could not make the catch at the wall. That’s it for Guerrier. Duensing now pitching. Lind, with Wells at second. Grounds to Hudson at second, throw to first for the out. But Jays have the lead and perhaps Vernon has the monkey off his back with that hit and RBI. Everyone wants him to come through as with Hill and Lind, this team needs those bats.

Top 8th: Battle of the bullpen now. Downs still pitching. Morneau 0-2 and singles into centre. Cuddyer, with one on. 2-2 count. Grounds to Gonzalez, throw to McDonald at second, over to first, not in time Morneau sliding into second hit in head by McDonald knee. One down. Kubel. 2-0 count. 2-2, Ball three. That’s the way, grounds to McDonald, throw to Gonzalez back to Overbay double play ball.
Bottom 8th: Can Jays add to this lead now? Duensing still out there. Repko in right, Cuddyer to first for Morneau. Buck leading off. Grounds to short, throw to first for the out. One down. Overbay, 2-2 count. Strikes out looking. Two down for Encarnacion. 2-2 count. Lines it to right for third out.

Top 9th: Here comes Kevin Gregg. Bottom of the order but probably pinch hitters coming up. Hang on for this ride. Gregg usually makes it interesting. Young lines it to Wells Vernon makes nice sliding catch. One down. Valencia full count. Fly ball to Wells in centre. Two down, BUT here comes pinch hitter Jim Thome. 1-2 everyone on their feet, Count full. Fly ball to centre Vernon makes the third out. Jays nice job to win this 6-5. Gregg save number nineteen.

Excellent: Everyone in the starting lineup gets a hit. Ten hits and only one player Bautista with two. This was a great team effort. Jays come back three times to regain the lead. They never gave up.

Very good: Inside the park home run by Bautista. Gonzalez home run in the first to get Jays going and the final winning run by Vernon to break his 0-21 streak, perfect timing. Three double plays and several great plays by Jays defence tonight.

The bad: Nothing tonight and not because they won. This was an all-round team effort with some outstanding plays.