Jays win big in the 9th behind strong outing from Morrow

Jays v Rangers. Game four of four.

Tough loss for Jays last night but they played very well and could have easily won it. 14 hit attack with Rivera home run, great bullpen pitching .

Line-ups: Jays: McCoy, leading off today giving Escobar a day off. Patterson, Bautista, Lind, Rivera, Encarnacion, Snider, Molina, McDonald and Morrow pitching.
Rangers: Kinsler, Andrus, Young, Beltre, Cruz, Moreland, Napoli, Davis, Borbon and Ogando pitching. Orgando is 3-0 for the first month of the season.

Top 1st: McCoy strikes out swinging, one down for Patterson. Strikes out on three pitches. Two down for Bautista. 2-2 count, keeping it away from Jose if he can hold up. Ball four, another walk for Jose. Lind now can he make Ogando pay ? Wild pitch by Ogando, Jose to second. Whoa…. Adam turns on this one into right field seats and Jays go out ahead 2-0. Very nice Adam, does he ever love Texas. Rivera now singles to third, continues his own torrid hitting in Texas, now 7 for 12. Wow…. Is this the same guy that we saw in Toronto? Encarnacion, fly ball out to Borbon in centre but Jays get a lead for Morrow to work with. 25 pitch count for Ogando.

Bottom 1st: Kinsler, grounds to Johnny Mac playing short today. One down. Andrus, singles to Snider in left. Young, strikes out, Andrus steals second. Beltre singles to Patterson in centre, Andrus scores. 2-1 Jays. Cruz fly ball to Bautista in right to end the inning and leave Beltre out there.

Top 2nd: Snider, strikes out swinging. Molina, strikes out, MacDonald fly ball to Cruz in left. A quick inning for Orgando.
Bottom 2nd: Moreland strikes out, Napoli, another strike out. Number three for Morrow. Davis, ball four walks. Borbon , grounds to McCoy on to McDonald to get Davis at second.

Top 3rd: McCoy strikes out for the second time today. Patterson, strikes out also for the second time. Bautista, pops up to first, quick inning for Orgando.
Bottom 3rd: Kinsler singles to right. Andrus hitting, there goes Kinsler steals second. Manager Washington obviously thinks this will be a tight game and get the runs anyway they can today. Grounds to McCoy throw to Lind, one down. Kinsler to third, that steal was big. Young with runner at third. 3-1 count, sac fly to Bautista, here comes the run. 2-2 game. Two down for Beltre. Singles to Johnny Mac. at short. Cruz, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging but long inning for Morrow now at 58 pitch count.

Top 4th: Orgando also on 57 pitch count. Lind battling here fouling them off, strikes out looking. Rivera with average at .222 now. 202 count. Ball four, on base yet again for Juan. Encarnacion now 3-1 count, Orgando having problem finding strike zone or Jays hitters are more patient. Pops this one up to Kinsler in foul territory. Two down. Snider, this guy badly needs to get going. There you go Travis singles opposite field to left, that’s a start. Rivera to second on the play. Molina, with two on grounds to Beltre at third throw to second to get Snider to end this rally.
Bottom 4th: Moreland battling Morrow here, grounds back to Morrow, safe at first, error on the play by Morrow. Eight pitch at bat. Napoli with one on. Fly ball to Patterson in center, one down. Davis, 2-2 count, fly ball to Snider in left. Two down. That pitch count getting high. Now 75, Brandon needs a couple of quick innings or someone will be long relief again today. Borbon at bat. Strikes out 79 pitch count.

Top 5th: McDonald leading off, Orgando on 73 pitches also. Both bullpens will be working soon. Fly ball to Cruz in left, one down for McCoy, bunting, why oh why Mike? grounds out to Davis at first, two quick outs. Patterson. Grounds to Davis at first. Six pitch inning, drives me crazy. McCoy in particular after hitting well the last two games, does not need to bunt. How do you think Morrow feels watching that.
Bottom 5th: Kinsler, doubles to Snider in left. Andrus with runner in scoring position. OH VERY NICE Molina has Kinsler picked off at second, great throw. Andrus full count, lines out to Bautista in right, two down. Young, fly ball to Bautista to end this one. Molina gets the gold star. Pitch count 90. He should get one more inning in at least.

Top 6th: Bautista leading off. Orgando on 79 pitches. 2-0 count, Jose getting used to this. There we go Bautista singles to Cruz in left. Lind now with runner on base. Another 2-0 count. Grounds to Kinsler at second no chance to get Jose at second, throw to Davis to get Lind. Rivera with runner in scoring position, time to break this thing open Juan. Another 2-0 count, the older guys showing the newbies how it should be done to take pitches. 3-1 count, ball four. Another great at bat by Rivera. Two on one down for Encarnacion. Pops up to Beltre at third base. Two down for Snider. Is he ever due for a big hit. Fly ball to Moreland in right. A promising inning comes to nothing. Travis remaining in the big leagues must be one major headache now for Manager Farrell, what does he do with him?
Bottom 6th: Beltre fly ball to Bautista, one down. Cruz, strikes out, two down. Morrow still throwing 93-94mph. Moreland, 0-2 count, battling here, singles to Bautista on his seventh pitch. Napoli with two down and one on. 2-2 count, this will be Brandon’s last hitter whatever happens here. He is way over 100 pitch count now. Right on cue, pops up to McCoy at second to end this. 107 pitches for his day’s work. Did a good job keeping Jays in this.

Top 7th: Cody Eppley now pitching. Molina. Ouch, gets hit by pitch that’s a good way to start. Johnny Mac. Bunting, lousy bunt, throw to second to get Molina, easy out, come on Johnny Mac what are you thinking with slow runner Molina out there. McCoy, strikes out. Two down for Patterson, also hitless today. That’s it for Eppley, Pedro Strop now pitching. Ball four two on for Bautista. Whoa… another hit batsman, is that a farewell to Jose…That hurt. But Jose seems to be ok. Jays will remember that one. Bases loaded for Lind. Really battling here, fouling them off, full count on nine pitches. Wow gets him on pitch number ten. That was one great at bat. Leaves the bases loaded though.
Bottom 7th: I wonder if Kinsler will get hit this inning send out Dotel for one pitch John.….. Davis leading off, Borbon and Kinsler to bat. Rzepczynski yet again, he is really getting overworked. Davis flies out to Patterson in centre. One down for Borbon, strikes out. Two down for Kinsler. Pitching change, honest I did not plan this. Frasor… will he plunk Kinsler? Go Jason. One pitch. 0-2 count, pops up to Encarnacion at third to end this inning. The plunk will be later.
Top 8th: Strop still pitching. Rivera leading off, fly ball to left but Cruz has it, one down for Encarnacion, 2-0 count, grounds to Andrus at second throw to first, two down. Snider and maybe his last chance today. 0-2 count, fly ball to Cruz. Sayonara Travis.

Bottom 8th: Frasor still pitching. Andrus, singles to centre. Here we go…. Hang on here. Young, 2-2 count, come on Jason. That’s better lines out to Bautista, one down. Beltre, fly ball to Patterson in centre, two down. Runner Andrus holds. Cruz, now Andrus goes and steals second. Come on Jason 3-1 count. Ball four, come on. Two on two down. Moreland we saw what he could do. Manager Farrell agrees, end of the day for Frasor, here comes ex-Ranger Francisco. He should know what these guys do not like. 2-2 count, double steal here both safe. Here comes pitching coach Walton, what did he say? Strike three that will definitely do. Way to go Franky.

Top 9th: This is it for Jays now. Oliver now pitching. Molina leading off, grounds to Beltre at third throw to first for Davis, one down. Johnny Mac not a great game for him today so far. That’s better singles to Borbon in centre. One on one down for McCoy, no Escobar pinch hitting. Good because McCoy’s last at bat was awful. There we go way to go Yunel, lines to Moreland in right, Johnny Mac all the way to third. Jays have something going again and the top of the order to do it. Stay out of that double play. Patterson, bunting and oh what a great bunt up the first base line, both Oliver and Davis going for it and here comes Johnny Mac to score and Patterson with that speed gets to first. 3-2 Jays the first run since that first inning hours ago. And look who is at bat, Bautista now with two on and one down. The last time they plunked him, surely not twice. Here comes the pitching coach, do not give this guy anything to hit. Ten thousand fans in the stadium would tell him the same. Keeping it away from him and there we go ball four. Bautista walks, surprise, surprise. Lind now with bases loaded once again. Strike one, two and three, whoa….. two down. Rivera grounds to Beltre at third, oh he muffs it, and here comes Escobar to score, 4-2 Jays on the error, oh no Bautista is coming to third and he now realises Patterson is there, retreats and throw to second goes into the outfield, here comes Patterson 5-2 game. Wow, I have never seen that before. Not only was Bautista was so lucky to get back to second but another run scores and the crowd is streaming to the exits. Bautista makes things happen out there one way or the other !! but in truth that was a mental error by Jose. Encarnacion now can he bring them in and make this a rout? Fly ball to Borbon but Jays have broken this thing open 5-2.
Bottom 9th: Escobar stays in the game at short, MacDonald to second. Bye bye Mike McCoy. Francisco still pitching out there. Farrell wants to see what he can do as a closer. Napoli strikes out swinging. Not much doubt about those pitches. Davis, strike three, you can see that Francisco is not letting this one get away especially against his old team. Down to their last at bat, Borbon, lines hard to first Lind hangs on to it and Jays steal one but this was well earned they have been dominant in all four games. Last night they had winning run on base.

A tremendous 3-1 series for the Jays here in Arlington. Coming in Sunday evening this could have been turning point in the season if they had lost all four which was a great possibility. Instead they take three from a team that had only lost two at home throughout April. Emergence of Rivera with a great series here. Pitching was good all round including Reyes. Bullpen now even stronger with Francisco settling into the closer role. With Rauch as set up and the six seven innings pitchers Jays have a very strong bullpen. Jays looking good heading into New York riding on confidence.

The good: Lind home run to get the Jays going in the first inning and continue his great hitting in Arlington. Rivera single in the first to keep his hot streak going.
The bad: The 5th inning Jays hitters giving Orgando a quick six pitch inning and McCoy in particular but Patterson also not taking their time. They still have a lot to learn about going deep into a count and making pitcher work for that out and situational hitting. They should watch Juan Rivera at work and learn. Snider what is to be done with him? Hard to sit him when they go into Yankee Stadium next but his time to turn it around is limited. Johnny Mac bunting with Molina, yes Molina at first. Lind leaving six on base in his last two at bats. Ouch Adam….