Arencibia debut power performance leads Jays to 17-11 win despite poor pitching.

Game two of three Rays v Jays. Saturday August 7.

Today Mills for Litsch his second game after fine outing against Baltimore when he went seven innings. JP Arencibia starting for Buck today. The knock on JP is his throwing arm and only 25% catching runners. This could be a major issue against this Rays running side. Mills will just have to keep them off base. Have just been checking my notes from Dunedin and the March blog entries, this guy hit three home runs in the first week of spring training. He was on fire then and incidentally so was Bautista but Jose was playing leadoff for most of the spring. Big test for both Mills against Tampa bats and Arencibia against Shields, not your Pacific Coast game today.

Lineups: Rays: Upton, Johnson, Longoria, Joyce, Aybar, Zobrist, Jaso, Bartlett, Brignac.
Jays: Snider, Escobar, Bautista, Wells, Lind, Hill, Overbay, Encarnacion, Arencibia.
Pitching: Mills v Shields.

Top 1st: Upton leading off, strikes out. One down for Johnson walks. Longoria with one on fly ball to Wells for second out. Joyce strikes out.
Bottom 1st: - Snider leading off full count and ball four. Jays will take that start from Travis. Escobar, here we go, doubles this all the way to the wall in centre, here comes Travis to score 1-0 Jays. Still no outs with runner at second. Bautista full count and ball four. Wells very patient at bat here, loads them up. Bases loaded. Back to back walks by Shields, he is as bad as Mills today. Escobar to third, Bautista to second. Bases loaded and no outs. Lind, strikes out on that high fast ball. He had better start to lay off them or it will be along summer for him. Bases still loaded for Hill, another full count, strikes out without a swing. Come on Aaron have to swing there. Two down, bases still loaded for Overbay. Fly ball to Upton in centre. That was terrible hitting, should never have the bases loaded with no outs and fail to score. Lind, Hill and Overbay have some amending to do today.
Where is everyone? Area around my seats is deserted. Must be the City construction and closures all around the city core this weekend.

Top 2nd: Aybar leading off walks. Zobrist, grounds to Escobar throw to Overbay, Aybar out. Jaso grounds to Overbay flip to pitcher Mills.
Bottom 2nd: Encarnacion leading off doubles to centre. Where was that hit last inning with bases loaded and no outs? Here comes JP Arencibia, his first major league at bat. Oh WOW…. JP has smoked this one, first pitch, and over the left field wall, no doubt about that one. 3-0 Jays. Snider 3-0 count, ball four, walks on four pitches. Escobar lines out to third baseman Longoria. Bautista grounds to Bartlett at short, bobbles this one Bautista is safe on the error, Snider to second. Wells lines to Bartlett great catch and quick throw to Brignac at second gets Snider diving back in, double play.

Top 3rd: Bartlett leading off, full count and ball four. Leadoff walk, Brignac lines to Bautista in right field. One down for Upton, doubles to centre, here comes Bartlett to score 3-1 Jays. There goes Upton stealing third, no throw. Johnson singles to centre, here comes Upton. 3-2 Jays. Longoria lines to Escobar throw to Overbay double play ball.
Bottom 3rd: Lind leading off, first pitch swinging and this one is out of here in right, home run Lind. 4-2 Jays. Hill, YES Aaron, back to back, another home run, into his usual left field spot. 5-2 Jays. Overbay, fly ball to Upton in centre, one down for Encarnacion, drives this one into left, another home run, the third of the inning. 6-2 Jays. Arencibia another hit, doubles to right. Snider fly ball to Upton.Two down. Wild pitch by Shields, I don’t blame him. Arencibia to third. Escobar with two down fly ball to Zobrist. Jays answer the two by Rays with three of their own and take back the momentum.

Top 4th: Joyce leading off fly ball to Bautista in right, one down. Aybar grounds to Encarnacion throw to Overbay. Two down. Zobrist grounds to Encarnacion throw to Overbay to end the inning.
Bottom 4th: Bautista leading off YES JOSE, gets hold of this one into the left field seat 7-2 Jays. Wells grounds to Bartlett throw to Johnson at first one down. Lind fly ball to Upton in centre. Two down. Hill, home run last at bat. Here we go again, almost identical hit, into left, Hill has his second of the game. 8-2 Jays. Overbay grounds to Brignac throw to Johnson at first to end this one.

Top 5th: Mills still out there, for the life of me I cannot figure out why. Jaso leading off grounds past a diving Hill at second. Bartlett a bloop single into no man’s land in right, Jaso to second. Two on. Brignac another looper into left to load the bases Jaso to third, Bartlett to second. That was tough for Mills, all three were excuse me hits. Upton, walks him and a run as Jaso comes in. That was his fault and here comes Cito, enough today. 8-3 Jays but Mills has been on thin ice since the start.
Oh dear Tallet pitching. Johnson fly ball to Bautista in right, here comes the runner, Bartlett, 8-4 Jays. Brignac moves to third on the tag. Longoria grounds to Escobar, throw to Overbay, for the second out, Brignac comes home 8-5 Jays. Joyce strikes out but Rays are back in this one.

Bottom 5th: That’s it for Shields also, Maddon left him as long as he could tonight. Thayer now pitching. Encarnacion leading off pops up to Brignac at second, one on. Arencibia singles to left. That is his third hit. Snider singles to centre, Arencibia to second. Jays have something going again here. Escobar grounds to short, bases loaded Arencibia to third, Snider to second for Bautista. Strikes out, two down. Wells grounds to third, here comes Arencibia, Snider at third, Escobar at second. 9-5 Jays. Lind, singles to centre, here comes Snider followed by Escobar and Wells to third. 11-5 Jays. Hill doubles to left, here comes Vernon, here comes Lind. 13-5 Jays. Overbay finally grounds to Bartlett throw to Johnson. BUT Jays hot back with five more, this is one crazy game and still only the end of the 5th.

Top 6th: Tallet still out there. Aybar leading, off grounds to Hill throw to Overbay one down. Zobrist grounds back to Tallet throw to Overbay for second out. Jaso grounded out to Hill, to first baseman Overbay.
Bottom 6th: - Encarnacion grounds to Bartlett throw to Johnson at first base, one down. Here comes Arencibia. NO WAY JP….. does it again first pitch and this time opposite field hit Home run into the seats in right. 14-5. Standing oivation for everyone in the crowd. This is one crazy game this afternoon. Crowd is going crazy demanding curtain call from JP, here he comes. What a day for him. Snider now fly ball to Upton in centre, two down. Escobar strikes out. JP has two home runs to left and right.

Top 7th: Bartlett leading off fly ball out to Wells in centre. One down for Brignac, strikes out. Rodriguez pinch-hitting for Upton. Grounds to Encarnacion at third, unable to make a good throw, Rodriguez safe on Encarnacion's error. Johnson with two down and one on. There she goes into right, here comes Rodriguez and followed by Johnson. 14-7 now. Rays gave the one back with interest. Kapler pinch-hitting for Longoria. Kapler grounds out to Hill throw to Overbay. Rays get two back as a result of that error by Encarnacion.
Bottom 7th: Rodriguez in at third base. Kapler in at centre field. Qualls now pitching. Bautista leading off, full count and walks. One on for Lind, pops up to Joyce in left. Hill grounds to Bartlett flip to Brignac for the second out. Bautista to third. McDonald pinch-running for Hill. Overbay now, gets hold of this one, into the seats in right field. Here comes Bautista, here comes Johnny Mc. and finally here comes Lyle. Encarnacion singles to centre. Arencibia, the crowd giving him another standing ivation and chanting his name, I think JP will be a common chant for some time to come, pops up to Zobrist in right, gave it a ride but I canlt imagine the emotion he must be under at that reception.I have never seen Vernon get that type of reception.

Top 8th: Wise in for Bautista in right field. McDonald in at second for Hill. Frasor pitching. Joyce leading off grounds to Overbay flip to Frasor covering. One down for Aybar, pops up to Snider in left, two down. Zobrist grounds to Escobar throw to Overbay. Not the greatest throw but Lyle has it.
Bottom 8th: Choate now pitching. Snider leading off singles to centre. Escobar singles to centre, Snider moves to second. Jays continue to beat up on the Rays pitching. Wise in the game for Bautista, grounds to Rodriguez at third steps on bag to get Snider, throw to Brignac at second to get Escobar. Double play. Wells with two down, grounds back to pitcher Choate throw to Johnson at first to end the inning, the first one today with no run for the Jays.

Top 9th: Purcey now pitching to finish this one off. Jays with a ten run lead. Jaso leading off. Walks him. Bartlett doubles to left, Jaso to third. Rays are not lying down they have something late going. Brignac, this will do, fly ball to Snider I left, here comes Jaso. Throw gets away and Bartlett scores, error on the play. Not over yet. 17-9. Rodriguez singles to left. One on no outs. Rodriguez takes second. Indifference, Johnson walks on a full count. That’s it for Purcey, he had nothing tonight, Janssen now pitching.Two down.Kapler, ever dangerous, doubles to centre. Here comes Rodriguez to score, Johnshon moves to third. Joyce full count and ball four. Third walk of the inning, this is the 9th !!! Cito must be grinding his teeth or worse. This is pretty bad with a ten run lead. Aybar grounds to Overbay, flip to Jansen for the out but another run scores. 17-11. Zobrist with two on and two down, strikes out to end this rally and an incredible afternoon. Jays win 17-11.

The excellent: JP Arencibia with an incredible debut. 4/5 with two home runs, double and a single. Hard to beat that for a first game. And from my seat he looked as cool as can be at the plate. Fans will love this young man. Don’t be surprised if Buck’s rehab takes longer than forecast although I think the coaching staff knows what they have in this guy. They had a good look in Dunedin and his stats have borne out his talent and today was the icing on the cake. I would like to see him with Crawford on base trying to throw him out. Jays 20 hits and six walks, dominant. Every starter had at least one hit and six of the starters had multi-hit game.
The very good: Lost today in JP’s achievements, was Aaron Hill. Although he had terrible first at bat and took third strike with bases full and full count he made up for it with three hits including two home runs. Maybe he has finally got back on track with his timing. We all hope so.
The bad: Without a doubt Jays pitching all the way down the line with Frasor as the only exception. Still not sure why Cito did not bring in Downs to start the 9th. But even Cito could be excused thinking Purcey and also Janssen could hold a ten run lead in the 9th. Mills though today from his second hitter looked rough. Could not get the ball down and ended up walking four. May not be here for another start. Tallet his usual, give up he did let two inherited runners score in the fifth and two more in the seventh. Purcey, well did not have anything today. One third of an inning, two walks, four runs and 21 pitches and gave Rays a lifeline when down by ten. Runners in scoring position after that disastrous first inning with bases loaded and no outs and no one could get a hit they end the day with 6/17. What could have been.

To be fair to them this is a very young team, they are still learning and today was a game unlike most have ever watched.