Jays v Pittsburgh in Bradenton today at McKechnie Field.
Line-ups: Most of the big guys getting a day off. Jays Patterson, McCoy, Encarnacion playing third, Thames, Jose Molina, catching, Cooper, Arencibia, DH today and maybe can concentrate on that swing, Tolisano, and Jonathan Diaz playing second. Drabek pitching.
Pirates: Old friend of the Jays playing at first, Lyle Overbay.
Line-up: Tabata, Walker, McCutchen, Alvarez, Overbay, having a good spring so far with a .379 average, Jones, Cedeno, Brown, Maholm the pitcher hitting ninth.
Top 1st: Corey Patterson leading off today. Encarnacion, whoa, gets hold of this one no doubt over left field fence, home run Edwin. I tell you this guy is SO frustrating. So inconsistent, impossible to know what he is going to do. But no complaints today, his third home run of the spring. Jays go out ahead in the first 1-0.
Drabek pitching bottom of first, oh boy, Walker gets a hold of this one and this game is all tied up 1-1 as Walker home run over Tolisano in right field, his second of the Spring. Andrew McCutchen singles to right, Drabek needs to settle here. That’s better nice throw by Molina to get McCutchen stealing, two down. Jose still has that arm. Drabek gets out of the inning without more trouble.
Top 2nd: Molina leading off, Maholm threw nothing but strikes the first inning, all eight pitches. Cooper singles to left. Wild pitch and moves to second. Arencibia now with that pitiful .094 average, what has happened to this guy`s bat? Walks, better than a strikeout. Two on for Tolisano who grounds into a double play to end the inning leaving two out there.
Overbay, three home runs this spring and six rbis. Would we had that type of production from first base in Toronto. Pittsburgh must love that deal. Singles to left and moves his average up to .400. That`s better for Drabek, Garrett Jones grounds to Diaz, over to McCoy on to Cooper and call it two, double play ball. Cedeno singles to Patterson in centre. Dusty Brown grounds out to Diaz at second throw to Cooper to end this inning.
Top of third. Diaz grounds out to Lyle at first, one down. Patterson the very same, two down for Mike McCoy. Grounds to third, three up and down for Maholm.
Bottom third. Pitcher Maholm strikes out swinging. Ex-Jay Marco Scutaro has just hit home run against the Braves. Tabata singles to centre, one down one on for home run Walker. That will do it ground ball to Encarnacion, Diaz at second on to Cooper. Double play to end this one.
Top 4th. Thames walk and steals second, Molina singles him in 2-1 jays. Cooper with Molina at first, there she goes, home run for David over the right field fence, 4-1 Jays. Cooper`s first of the spring. Jays management will be pleased to see that. Arencibia singles, Jays hitters getting to Maholm now. Oh no JP, caught stealing with Diaz at bat to end the inning, probably so excited to get a single.
Bottom 4th: Drabek only 17 pitches the first three innings. Two inning ending double plays will do that to a pitch count. Overbay with two down. Not good Kyle walks him, being too cautious to Lyle. Wild pitch and Overbay moves to second. Garrett Jones singles to right and here comes Lyle 4-2. Cedeno grounds out. Drabek pitch count still low at 27 for four innings so he should be out for one more.
Top 5th: Diaz leading off, grounds out, Paterson grounds out, two down for McCoy, pops up to end this one and that is one quick inning for Maholm. This game is halfway through in 1 hour and ten minutes !!!! someone has a dinner date tonight.
Bottom 5th: Matt Diaz pinch hitting for Maholm. Tabata singles to right, his second of the day and hit number seven off Drabek, he has been playing with fire. Walker grounds out to leave Tabata out there.
Top 6th: Hanrahan now pitching. Encarnacion grounds out. Thames strikes out swinging on three pitches, 0-2 today, Molina grounds out to end the inning.
Bottom 6th: Villanueva replaces Drabek. Brett Lawrie in at third replacing Encarnacion. McCutchen doubles to left, Alvarez pops up to McCoy, one down but here comes Lyle with runner in scoring position. Not this time Lyle, fly ball to Patterson in centre and McCutchen has to hold, two down. Jones strikes out swinging and Villanueva preserves his 0.00 ERA, throwing nothing but strikes. He has been one very find trade for Alex.
Top 7th: Resop now pitching. Cooper leading off, 2-2 today. Another single, to centre. 3 hit day for David plus his home run, he will be very happy. Here`s a guy who needs a big hit, Arencibia, not here, strikes out. Copper caught stealing second. Second time for Jays today. Tolisano grounds back to Resop, throw to first to end this inning.
Bottom 7th: Casey Janssen now pitching. Gives up single to Cedeno, Tiregas fly ball to Patterson in centre, one down. Ciriaco pinch running at first. Bowker that`s better, grounds to McCoy, on to Diaz over to Cooper, call it two third inning ending double play by Jays infield today. Very nice. Three pitches, three strikes, Casey will take that any day and the 1.50 ERA to go with it for the Spring.
Top 8th: Jose Veras now pitching. Diaz leading off, very nice play Jonathan, bunts to Veras and safe with that speed at first. Patterson hitless in three at bats today, there we go Corey, singles to right and Diaz moves to third, no one out for Mike McCoy. Gose pinch running for Patterson, McCoy gets a nice bunt down here, perfect in fact to first base, here comes Diaz to score and Gose moves to second. 5-2 Jays. One down Lawrie, walks on four pitches, Veras rattled here, two on one down and speed on those bases, double steal here. Great small ball by the Jays here. Thames strikes out looking, two down. Budde at bat, there we go, you could see that coming, Gose takes off and is safe at third as Lawrie follows suit, double steal, how many is that this Spring. I dont think we can wait until these kids are playing in Toronto. All four of them. Are knocking on the door bigtime. Budde strikes out leaving two in scoring position but that was one excellent small ball display by the Jays of the future.
Bottom 8th: Henn now pitching for Janssen. Fields strikes out, Mercer strikes out, six pitches six strikes, Wimberley singles to centre, two down Rodriguez, wild pitch and Wimberley movers into scoring position at second. Rodriguez walks, two on and Henn losing focus here after those two quick strike outs. Pinch hitter Marte replaces pitcher Veras. Oh boy he is losing it now big time, walks Marte on four pitches to load them up. How do you throw six consecutive strikes and then eight consecutive balls. Manager leaving him in to work it out. Garrett Jones with the bases loaded. Another walk, three in a row and run scores 5-3 Jays. That IS it for Henn and maybe another bus ticket to somewhere far away. Rommie Lewis replaces him but Ciriaco with bases still loaded and two down. Fly ball to Loewen and Henn`s nightmare is over.
Top 9th: Michael Crotta now pitching. Cooper lines out to short, no four hit game for David today. Arencibia, his last chance today. Not this time. JP grounds to Ciriaco, two down for Loewen, grounds to Ciriaco, throw to first to end the inning.
Bottom 9th: Lewis still pitching after his one pitch rescue in the 8th. Niuman Romero replacing Cooper at first. Toregas, singles to left, this one is not over yet. Bowker, pops up to Stainsbury at second, one down, Fields fly ball to Loewen, two down for Mercer. Walks, come on Rommie, one more. Wimberley now tying run with two on and two down. Fly ball to Gose in centre and this is the game.
Jays win big 5-3 to get their record to back to .500 at 9-9.
The excellent: Cooper spraying his hits around, singles to left and centre and home run to right, that is excellent hitting. Jays have a good first base in the wings if Adam cannot handle it. Send his average soaring to .407
Small ball in the 8th. Diaz, McCoy, Gose and Lawrie, bunting and with great speed stealing successfully, big part of Jays future.
Drabek goes five innings, seven hits but only two runs and keeps his ERA at 3.27.
Three inning ending double plays.
The not so good: Runners in scoring position again 1-4 today
Bus tickets: Henn, awful outing gets two quick strikeouts on six pitches and then totally loses it and walks three consecutive hitters on twelve pitches.
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