Morrow superb as Jays strike early and beat Tigers 5-4

Game three Tigers v Jays. Saturday August 28.

Jays had a great extra innings win last night, can they continue that today? Must have been very dispiriting for the Tigers. Ciot has Travis back in the lineup and moved him down to number seven, let's see how he likes that position.

Lineups: Tigers: Rhymes, Santiago, Damon, Cabrera, Boesch, Raburn, Inge, Kelly, Avila.
Jays: Lewis, Escobar, Bautista, Wells, Lind, Hill, Snider, Encarnacion, Molina.

Pitching: Morrow v Figaro. Firststart of the season for Figaro but that usually means Jays are in for tough time.

Top 1st: Rhymes leading off doubles to left. Santiago, bunting, back to Morrow throws to Encarnacion at third, they have Rhymes in rundown, throw to Escobar, Rhymes out. Santiago to first, going to second on the play, Escobar to Hill, Santiago out. Wow that was some double play. Morrow doesn’t mind how they give themselves up. Damon with two down strikes out. That could be a huge inning later.
Bottom 1st: Lewis leading off, 3-0 and ball four. Good start. Escobar with one on. There gores Fred safe at second. Escobar singles to left, Lewis to third. Two on and nobody out, Jays have to make Tigers pay here. They have there right guy in there. Bautista lines this hard to centre, here comes Lewis, here comes Escobar and Bautista has himself a triple and two RBIs. Jays go out in front 2-0. Vernon now can he bring in Bautista from third base. That’s the way Vernon, grounds to Santiago at short, throw to Cabrera at first for the second out, Bautista going on contact and scores easily, Jays ahead 3-0. One down. Lind singles to right. Hill with one on, grounds to Inge at third, throw to Rhymes at second to get Lind, two down. Snider, hitting number six today, much better than leadoff position for Travis. Lines to Inge at third for the out, but Jays go out ahead quickly. It was important for either team to strike first after that extra innings game last night and with the Jays it is continuing that momentum.

Top 2nd: Cabrera leading off, Morrow has a nice three run lead to work with. Watch this guy though, there he goes, hammers this one to left, into the seats, home run Cabrera. Tigers get one back quickly, 3-1 Jays. Boesch with nobody on strikes out. One down for Raburn grounds to second and safe at first, one down one on for Inge strikes out. Two down for Kelly, strikes out. Morrow strikes out the side, on his game today.
Bottom 2nd: Encarnacion leading off pops up to Kelly in centre. Molina grounds to Santiago throw to Cabrera at first for the second out. Lewis pops up to Raburn in left to end this three up and down inning. Figaro has settled in after that shaky start.

Top 3rd: Avila leading off walked. Rhymes strikes out. One down for Santiago, strikes out two down. Damon grounds to Lind at first for the third out. Avila left out there.
Bottom 3rd: Escobar leading off singles to right. 2-2 today. Bautista fly ball to Kelly in centre. One down for Wells, strikes out. Two down for Lind, that’s better Adam, doubles to right, here comes Escobar and Jays lead 4-0. Hill with Lind in scoring position at second, pops up to Rhymes at second for third out.

Top 4th: Cabrera leading off pops up to Snider in left, one down for Boesch, strikes out. Raburn fly ball to Wells in centre. Three up and down, Morrow is locked in here.
Bottom 4th: Snider leading off doubles to centre. Encarnacion singles to centre, Snider to third on the play, Jays have something going again. Molina pops up to Cabrera at first for the out. One down two on for Lewis. Lewis grounds back to pitcher Figaro ricochets to Inge at third, throw to catcher Avila, Encarnacion to second, Lewis to first, Snider called out at the plate, out. No way, Travis definitely safe there his foot crosses the plate before the tag. He is arguing, now here comes Cito, no luck, I hope that does not hurt them at the end of this one. Escobar with two down, grounds to Santiago flip to second Rhymes at second to get Lewis for third out. Jays come away with nothing after Snider at third with nobody out. That is bad, bad.

Top 5th: Inge leading off grounds to Encarnacion throw to first, error on the play, that must be number 15. Jays really need a strong defensive hitting third base. I hope GM Alex has it as one if his priorities for 2011. Scott Rolen will ye nay come back again? Kelly pops up to Encarnacion. One down. Avila singles to right, Inge to third. One down two on for Rhymes, grounds back to Morrow, throwing home to get Inge. Avila to second, Rhymes to first, two down for Santiago, strikes out to end this threat. Morrow is doing it all himself today.
Bottom 5th: Bautista leading off, not pitching to him are they, leadoff walk. Wells with one grounds to Santiago at short, on to Rhymes at second over to Cabrera, double play ball. Lind pops up to Raburn in left for third out. Bautista left out there.

Top 6th: Damon leading off, grounds to Hill, safe at first on error by Aaron. Cabrera with one on, perfect, grounds to Escobar flip to Hill throw to Lind at first double play ball. Boesch with two down strikes out. Morrow takes advantage of that double play.
Bottom 6th: Hill leading off doubles to centre, error by Boesch in right and Aaron gets to third on the play, he really does seem to be getting his hits now. We all hope he has a great last month to make up for the rest of the season. That’s it for Figaro. Thomas now pitching. Snider, yes Travis gets hold of this one and doubles to centre, here comes Aaron and Jays now take a 5-1 lead. Second double today for Travis. Getting locked in now after those infrequent at bats. Encarnacion, with Travis at second and no outs grounds to Rhymes at second, throw to Cabrera at first for the first out. One down for Molina strikes out. Two down for Lewis, strikes out to end the inning leaving Travis stranded out there.

Top 7th: Frasor now pitching. Raburn leading off grounds to Encarnacion throw to Lind at first for the out. Inge with one down strikes out. Two down for Kelly, strikes out. Frasor has a good three up and down inning
Bottom 7th: Schlereth now pitching. Escobar leading off grounds to Santiago at short, throw to Cabrera at first for the out. Bautista doubles to centre, going for three here comes the throw from Kelly, to Santiago throws a strike to third to beat Bautista. Two down. Jays base running has not been good this last week or so. Wells now with two out instead of Bautista at second and only one down. Fly ball to Boesch in right to end this inning. That would have moved Jose to third on that play.

Top 8th: Tallet now pitching. Johnny Mc. in at third for Encarnacion, not sure what is wrong with him, or has he been traded? Avila leading off strikes out. One down for Casper Wells pinch-hitting for Rhymes, singles to centre. Santiago, full count, ball four. Tallet doing his usual. Wells to second. Santiago 2-2 count. Full count. Don’t walk him Tallet. Ball four and wild pitch to the wall. Two consecutive walks. Here comes Damon, the last guy I want to see here in this situation. 0-2 count, Downs warming up. Strikes out swinging. But this one is not over yet. Here comes Cabrera, 1-1 count, lines to Bautista in right. Tallet gets out of this one but makes it interesting as he usually does.
Bottom 8th: Schlereth still out there. Wells in right, Raburn at second. Lind leading off. 2-3 today, strikes him out looking this time. Hill, full count, strikes out swinging on ball four. Not quite there yet are you Aaron? Snider, two doubles today. Singles this one into centre. You see Cito play this kid everyday and don’t put him at leadoff. Johnny Mc. with runner on and two down. Singles back up the middle, two on, Travis at second. Molina, hitless so far, but he could connect here with big swing. Gets the big swing but just air. Connects here but grounds to third throw to frst to get Molina for third out.

Top 9th: Here comes Downs. Jackson leading off pinch hitting, hit by pitch, come on Scott, Raburn doubles to right. Downs in big trouble. Runners at second and third still no outs, Inge, full count. Strikes out swinging, one down. Peralta pinch hitting for Kelly, 2-0 count, Downs unable to find strike zone, 2-1, Gregg now ready in the bullpen. 3-1, ball four to load the bases. Tying run at the plate but to be optimistic double play ball also now in action. Avila, ball one, 2-0, 3-0, this might be his last pitch. Just throw a strike Scott. Thank you 3-1, grounds to Lind at first, takes the play himself at first, two down run scores 5-2 Jays. That’s it for Downs. Gregg, a save situation but he has two in scoring position, not much room for error Kevin. Casper Wells now with two down and two on. 0-1 count, 2-1, not good doubles into centre, 5-4 Jays. Santiago with tying run at second. 1-0, 1-1, 1-2. Whoa Kevin, strikes him out, nice pitch. Save number 30.

The excellent: Morrow another beauty of a game, nine more strikeouts, and now at 10 wins, the fourth Jays pitcher to win 10. Snider three hits today including two doubles, showing signs of life. Bautista a great afternoon without hitting home run, triple, double and a walk. Jays get 12 hits of which six were extra base hits.

The poor: Not much this afternoon but I have to mention Tallet pitching of course and what happened to Downs today? Just didn’t have it at all but he is entitled to a few games over the season. Leaving Snider at third after leadoff triple, could not bring him in with three tries.