Red Sox v Jays. Game two of two.
Great extra innings win last night for the Jays for a variety of reasons. First and foremost it showed some hustle and heart in the form of Rajai Davis doing his Carl Crawford imitation to perfection with his steals of second and third in the bottom of the 10th to get in position for Cooper. Secondly David Cooper only getting a chance to play with the injury to Escobar but making the most of his time with his first home run in the majors and then the winning run in the 10th and in between making a nice diving stop at first. The heart again of Jose Bautista and his home run trying to carry this team on his won. Plus it also ended three game losing streak and it gave Jays a win over Eastern rival and pulled up on Tampa losing in Cleveland. Still lots of downside but have to enjoy the win whilst we can.
Tonight Jesse Litsch, who knows what he will bring after his last excellent outing.
Line-ups: Red Sox: Ellsbury, Pedroia, Gonzalez, Youkilis, Ortiz, Drew, Crawford, Saltalamacchia, Iglesias and Lackey pitching.
Jays: Escobar, Patterson, Bautista, Rivera, Hill, Arencibia, Cooper, McDonald, Davis and Litsch pitching. I like this line-up, No Encarnacion, few tears here, played himself out of the line-up, he could not even hide at first last night, good to see Escobar in. Cooper also maybe just maybe he is showing the form we saw in spring and in Vegas. Still some concerns with Aaron, having problems with timing after that injury. Finally good to see Davis on fire again.
Top 1st: Ellsbury grounds to Cooper flip to Litsch, one down. Pedroia, strikes out. Gonzalez doubles to centre.Youkilis one on two down, singles to left, here comes Gonzalez, Red Sox strike first 1-0. Ortiz lifts it high in to centre field for Davis to end this one but Boston out ahead early tonight.
Bottom 1st: Escobar singles to centre, one on for Paterson, bunting, terrible pops up, one down, Lackey throw over, error by Lackey on the throw Escobar to second. Bautista, pops up to Gonzalez at first. Two down for Rivera. Pops up to Saltalamacchia. Lackey in control here to start.
Top 2nd: Drew singles to centre, one on for Crawford pops up to Hill, one down for Saltalamacchia, perfect grounds to Hill at second, to Escobar on to Cooper, double play ball to end this one.
Bottom 2nd: Hill fly ball to Drew in right, one down. Arencibia grounds to Pedroia at second throw to Gonzalez at first, two down. Cooper, here we go, hits him, Boston childish payback for last night David, ignore them, that is so pathetic. Revenge will be in the score tonight. Johnny Mac grounds to Iglesias at short, throw to Pedroia to get Copper at second to end this one.
Top 3rd: Iglesias, grounds to Escobar, throw to Cooper one down. Ellsbury, same play, grounds to Escobar, throw to Cooper, two down, Pedroia, grounds to Johnny Mac throw to Cooper. Red Sox go meekly here, Litsch keeping the ball down well.
Bottom 3rd: Davis leading off, here we go singles to left, now we shall see some action, Escobar 3-0 ball four. Lackey distracted by Davis on base. Two on nobody out for Patterson. That will do singles to right here comes Davis and Jays have tied this one up 1-1 game. Bautista, not getting anything here, there goes Patterson and takes second. 3-0 count, ball four. Jose used to this treatment but that’s ok with him. Rivera, strikes out. One down. Hill this will do grounds to Youkilis at third, throw to first Gonzalez to get Hill brings in Escobar for the run here and the lead, 2-1 Jays. Runners move up and Arencibia fly ball to Ellsbury in centre, leaves two on but Jays have the lead.
Top 4th: Litsch with a lead for first time in game. Gonzalez, strikes out, one down. Youkilis pops this in up Escobar has it at short, two down for Ortiz, shift right on, pops up to Hill, behind Cooper for third out.
Bottom 4th:Cooper leading off, fly ball to Drew in right, one down. Johnny Mac, OH YES, there she goes, into left just by the Jays bullpen, home run McDonald, and Jays go out 3-1. Davis. Singles to centre, 2-2 tonight, he is really getting hot now. Good luck Lackey holding him on he is really distracting him here, throwing over and dancing around when he doesn’t. Reminds me of Ricky Henderson. There he goes and safe on the throw. Must be rough for Escobar watching him. There he goes again takes third, easier steal than second ! Second game in a row he has stolen second and third in the same inning. Now can Yunel bring him in here. There she goes fly ball to centre. Here comes Rajai, walking in here for run number four. Two down for Patterson lines it hard to Pedroia at second for the out but Jays lead 4-2 here.
Top 5th Drew 3-0 count, not good Jesse, ball four, come on Jesse, you have a lead here. One on. Crawford lines to left, two on Saltalamacchia with two on, strikes out, Iglesias, grounds to McDonald fumbles it and then still throws to second to get Crawford, two down. Iglesias at first. Ellsbury, 3-0 count, Pedroia on deck full count, grounds to Escobar throw to Cooper at first for third out. Litsch escapes big trouble this time.
Bottom 5th: Bautista pops up very very high to 3B. One down for Rivera, lines first pitch to centre for second out, come on guys. Work Lackey here. Hill lifts it into shallow right centre. Arencibia two down one on. Grounds to third, throw to second to get Hill sliding. Very quick innings for Lackey.
Top 6th: Pedroia, strikes out looking, second time tonight. Gonzalez, full count, this is trouble. Lifts it into left into the Jays bullpen kept on carrying, 4-2 Jays. Youkilis, lines it to third, great play by Johnny Mac throw to Cooper two down. Ortiz, oh boy line drive to right a bullet over the fence home run Ortiz and this is a one run game 4-3. And that’s it for Litsch tonight. When oh when are we going to get a starter going deep? Casey Janssen now pitching. Drew full count after going 0-2, pops it up to Davis in centre. But Red Sox back in this one.
Bottom 6th: Cooper full count, grounds to second, throw to first one down. Johnny Mac first pitch fly ball to short, two down. Davis, 2-2 and two stolen bases. Singles into left, 3-3 and good luck holding him on here. Escobar, bounces to Lackey, throw to first for third out. Davis left out there.
Top 7th: Crawford, singles to left. Saltalamacchia, oh boy powers this one high into right corner, hits the fifth deck wall but foul, that was huge hit, full count, strikes out oh NICE play, Crawford going and Arencibia great throw for Escobar to get Crawford. We don’t often see that re Crawford. Two down. Iglesias 1-2 count, strikes him out. Very nice.
Bottom 7th: Patterson, 3-0 and ball four. One on for Bautista hammers this one to left Crawford off the wall just misses going out but Patterson standing there and now gets to second. Two on for Rivera. Lines first pitch to left, he is having lousy game tonight. One down for Hill, same play lines it to Crawford in left, Rivera and Hill unable to get the job done here. Double steal might have been better option. Arencibia, better at bat than Rivera and Hill, full count, ball four to load them up. Cooper, he is getting far more patient at bats, 3-1 count, he will be taking this one. Ball four, here comes Patterson 5-3 Jays. Great at bat by Cooper. Hill and Rivera could learn from that one. Bases still loaded. Johnny Mac. has to be patient here also. 1-1, this will do it, perfect, lines it into left field here comes Bautista, here comes Arencibia, two runs score, huge... 7-3 game. That is it for Lackey, 120 pitches they left him out there as the bullpen has been overused this last week. But too long for Lackey tonight. Wakefield now in to face Davis. Lines it to left, here comes Cooper here comes Johnny Mac. 9-3 Jays. Escobar strikes out swinging but Jays have broken this one wide open.
Top 8th: Rauch now pitching, wants to close it down here. Ellsbury 2-2 count, grounds back to Rauch, throw to Cooper, one down, Pedroia two down,
Bottom 8th: Patterson doubles to right centre, Bautista strikes out looking thought it was ball four, Rivera horrible night so far. 0-2, this will do grounds to short, long throw not in time. Patterson stays at second. Hill 1-4 tonight. 0-2 count. Lines to Drew in right. Two down for Arencibia, strikes out. Jays leave two more out there but a six run lead into the ninth.
Top 9th: Boston has to go into New York tonight after this game. Not the way they had planned. Or hoped. Francisco out again tonight, not a save situation. Youkilis, 2-0 count. 3-0, not good Frank. Ball four. Ortiz, shift right on, ball one, what is wrong with this guy. Oh very nice play, Ortiz grounds it up the middle, Escobar dives makes back hand throw to McDonald throw to first double play ball. WOW what a pretty play. Drew, 3-0 count, Francisco has nothing so far tonight. Full count, ball four. Second walk of the inning. Not good for a closer Frank. Crawford, Drew takes second, grounds to Hill throw to Cooper for third out. Not a great inning by Francisco.
But bottom line Jays demolish Red Sox and that friends is cause for celebration any day.
The very good: So much tonight. Home run by Johnny Mac, and his two rbi double in the eighth, the at bat by Cooper in the eighth, Davis running Red Sox ragged for the second night. His 2RBI single in the eighth to put this one out of reach. Litsch hung in there to keep it close and that is all we can ask of the starters. Great defense by Escobar and Johnny Mac. Nice throw by Arencibia to get Crawford stealing, anytime you can catch Crawford it is good. Jays bullpen to keep it close after Litsch left. All the starters reached base, Davis four times.
MVP tonight had to be Rajai Davis. 4-4, two RBIs two runs, two stolen bases. Davis show once again, this guy is worth every dollar and more.
The negative tonight. No this is celebration when they sweep Boston even if it is only two game series. Jays needed this series bigtime.
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