Jays come back to win nail biter for Cecil.

Toronto v Boston, Game one.

So important for Jays to take this first game. Boston down and a loss here would put great pressure on them. But can this team do it with Lind, Hill and Snider playing so badly?

Lineups: Toronto: Escobar, Patterson, Bautista, Lind, Hill, Arencibia, Snider, Rivera, Nix and Cecil pitching.
Boston: Crawford, Pedroia, Gonzalez, Youkilis, Ortiz, Drew, Saltalamcchia, Scutaro, Ellsbury and Bucholz pitching.

Top 1st: Escobar walks, Patterson, fly ball to Ellsbury in vcentre, one down. Bautista, walks. Lind with two on, Adam needs to get it going as well. whoa, lines it to right, just over the wall, is that a home run? Umpire says fair ball, but review, this is huge, 3-0 or 0-0. Review says foul ball. Tough call. Lind grounds to Pedroia at second throw to first, two down. Hill, strikes out. 25 pitch inning or Bucholz.
Bottom 1st: Crawford, don’t let this guy get on base, grounds to Hill, throw to Cecil, one down. Pedroia strikes out, two down, Gonzalez pops up to Nix. Nice start for Cecil.

Top 2nd: Arencibia, full count, strikes out that was ball four, one down. Snider grounds to first, throw to Bucholz, two down, Rivera this is the guy who needs to break out, grounds to Scutaro at short, throw to first to end this one.
Bottom 2nd: Youkilis,2-2 count, full, ball four. Ortiz, fly ball to Snider, one down. Drew, lines it to left, no, Snider and Patterson converge and Snider drops the ball, that was Patterson’s catch. Error to Snider, his thirrd of the month, two on. Saltalamacchia, strikes out, two down. Scutaro 3-1, come on Cecil. Ball four and loads the bases. Snider owes Cecil bigtime. Ellsbury, strikes out. Nice pitching Brett but Snider owes you another 11 pitches.

Top 3rd: Nix leading off. 3-1 count. Grounds to Scutaro, throw to first, one down. Escobar, grounds to second throw just gets Escobar diving. Patterson, first pitch bunting, come on Corey thrown out easily. Two pitches two outs. Not good at all. Don’t give the outs away.
Bottom 3rd: Cecil wondering what happened. He had not sat down. The difference between thinking hitters and Patterson is not one of them. Crawford leading off. Pops up to Nix at third. One down for Pedroia, gets hold of this one, over the wall in left, 1-0 Boston. Gonzalez. 3-0 count, ball four. Youkilis, gets hold of this one home run into centre, 3-0 Boston. Ortiz, 3-1 count, full, ball four. Drew fly ball to Patterson, no messup this time. Two down. Saltalamacchia, 3-0 count. Pops up to Lind at first to end this one. Now maybe just maybe Cecil’s teammates will help him out here. Take some pitches and give the poor guy chance for a breather. Don’t count on it.

Top 4th: Bautista leading off. 3-1 count, more pitches already than the last inning. Grounds to third, throw to first, one down for Lind. Lines it to centre, caught up against the wall. Two down for Hill. Grounds to Scutaro at short, long throw but Hill beats it out to keep inning going at least. Arencibia, back in his old ways. Hill stealing, pitch in dirt and Hill takes second, grounds to third, throw to first to end this one.
Bottom 4th: Scutaro, bounces one in front, Arencibia throw to first, one down. Ellsbury, pops up to Nix, two down. Crawford, grounds first pitch to Lind takes it himself for the out. Very nice inning for Cecil.

Top 5th: Can the hitters get something going here? Toothless so far tonight. Snider owes Cecil bigtime. .154 average. Pops up to third, One down for Rivera. Come on Juan, we all want you to get going. 3-1 count. Ball four. Nix, full count, ball four, back to back walks. Escobar, 2-0, you have to pitch him sometime Bucholz. 2-2, bounces to Bucholz, throw to first two down runners move into scoring position but that doesn’t mean much tonight, Patterson another 2-0 count. That will do Corey lines it into the right field corner, here comes two and Patterson into third for a triple. Bautista now. 3-2 game. Full count. Strikes out swinging. But Jays are back into this one.
Bottom 5th: 74 pitch count for Cecil. Pedroia leading off. Gets under this one and high fly ball to Snider in left, one down. Gonzalez, strikes out, two down for Youkilis, pops up to Hill for third out. Perfect, get the hitters back at Bucholz. Now with pitch count at 88, make it his last inning here to get to that bullpen.
Top 6th: Lind leading off, 3-0 count, taking or swinging? Taking ball four. That gets the bullpen working. Hill, that’s ok, singles into left over Scutaro at short, two on for Arencibia but sayonara to Bucholz, hit the showers. Aceves now pitching. Grounds to third, throw to second over to first, double play ball. Lind at third, two down for Snider, chance to redeem yourself Travis. That will do, off the scoreboard left centre, here comes Lind and this game is tied up 3-3, Travis to second. Rivera now. Grounds to short, throw to first but this game is all square again. Baltimore and Yankees both losing but Rays are winning.

Bottom 6th: Cecil at 82 pitches. May be his last inning. Ortiz, lines it to Bautista in right, one down. Drew, bunts back to Cecil, throw to first, two down. Saltalamacchia, strikes out looking. Very nice Brett, he now wishes he could get those eleven pitches he had to waste after Travis dropped that catch. But he should at least be out to start the 7th. Can his teammates give him a lead?

Top 7th: Nix leading off. Bobby Jenks now pitching. 3-0 count, taking or swinging? Taking strike one. Full count. Ball four inside. One on for top of Jays order Escobar. Singles up the middle but Nix was running and gets to third on the play. Three chances to bring him in. Patterson strikes out. One down. Bautista perfect, drives it off the wall in left corner and here comes Nix, 4-3 Jays game with Escobar at second, Lind now chance to break this thing open. 2-0 count this will do drives it to left, opposite field hit, here comes Escobar, 5-3 Jays, two on for Hill, keep it going Aaron. Double steal both safe. Two now in scoring position with one down, and also stay out of the double play ball. 2-2 count, ball gets away and here comes Bautista, 6-3 Jays. Full count with Lind at third, Hill drives it to left, here comes Lind, 7-3 Jays. Doubront now pitching. Arencibia pops this up to centre on first pitch, two down. Snider, there goes Hill and
Bottom 7th: 92 pitches for Cecil. But he has been sitting a while and bullpen is ready. Loads of red seats now available as Red Sox nation go home early tonight. Frasor now to hold them here. Scutaro, grounds to Nix, throw to Lind, digs it out for the out. One down for Ellsbury, pops it up another mess up as Escobar drops it. Crawford, there goes Ellsbury and now Arencibia throw it into centre. Settle down here friends. 3-0 count now. Don’t walk Crawford. Fly ball to Snider, Ellsbury holds at third, two down for Pedroia. 2-2 count, full count. Grounds to Hill, throw to Lind for the out.

Top 8th: Wheeler pitching. Rivera, pops it up to second, one down for Nix, two walks and two runs tonight. 3-1 count. Full count, strikes out swinging, two down for Escobar. 2-0, 2-2, strikes out looking.
Bottom 8th: Baltimore lose to the Indians and Yankees also lose to Texas. Rays win. Rzepczynski now pitching. Gonzalez leading off. Grounds to Lind, takes it himself, one down. Youkilis, 3-0 not good Marc. Walks him. Ortiz, Rauch and Janssen working. Full count, put him on or pitch to him? Ball four, two on for and that’s it for here comes Walton, no he is staying in. Hmmm. Ok lefty lefty, but... Drew, two on and on down. 2-2 strikes him out. Two down Jed Lowrie pinch hitting. Wild pitch and both runners move up. 2-2 again, full count and 30 pitches this inning, whoa. Grounds to Nix, throw to first not in time run scores 7-4 game. That’s it for Rzepczynski, might be literally also, he didn’t have anything yet again. Casey Janssen now with runners at corners and two down. Scutaro, full count, OHHHHHHH no, drives it to the wall, here comes two more 7-6 game. Scutaro at second. Ellsbury drives it to right for Bautista to end this horror but Boston are right back in this.

Top 9th: The only way for Jays answer this one is to get some more runs. Papelbon in to hold them though. Patterson leading off. Grounds to first, one down for Bautista. This should be interesting. 3-1 staying away from him, full count. Ball four. Papelbon blinked first. Lind now with one on. 3-1 count, taking or swinging? Fouls it off. There goes Jose but another foul ball. Another throw over, keeping Papelbon distracted here. Goes again another foul ball. Oh boy Adam lines this one hard right at third, throw to first, double play ball as Jose is almost past second.
Bottom 9th: All those Boston fans who had left now wishing they had stayed for this. Rauch now pitching. Top of the order. Crawford leading off. Strikes out, one down for Pedroia. Grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind at first, two down. Gonzalez, this will do it grounds to Lind, takes it himself and this is the game.

Jays come from behind to win the first one in Fenway 7-6.

This one was a great one to win for several reasons, First game in Fenway this season, Jays back off long trip west. A comeback win after going down by three and lastly to give Manager Farrell a good win in his return to Fenway. And with Yankees, Baltimore and Boston losing, Jays enjoy some movement in the East division.

The very good: Hill comes alive with three hits and two steals. Patterson with big RBIs hit. But hits for everyone except Arencibia. Aggression steals from Lind, Hill twice and Bautista.
Cecil gets deserved win and Rauch his save number three. Jays now go past Baltimore losing their fifth in a row and now half a game back of Yankees. Boston now 2-10 to start the season. They would not be happy tonight after taking that early lead and then also pulling back to one.
Great comeback by Jays, Cecil, and the great aggressive play by Jays especially in the seventh with steals.

Awful: Rzepcyzynski 31 pitch two thirds of an inning. Awful.
Not so good: Snider, error in left dropping the line drive that he should have left for Patterson. Cost Cecil another 11 pitches which he could have used in the 7th.