Jays embarrass themselves losing 5-2 to Astros

Inter-league: Astros v Jays, Game one of three.

Jaya have traditionally had a horrible time with inter-league and one of the few AL teams with a losing record over the years. This weekend they have the worst team in NL but with the Jays that doesn’t mean anything, they often have their worst games against unknown rookie pitchers, and they must not take Astros lightly here. That might be hard for the younger players.

Line-ups: Astros: Bourn, Barmes, Pence, Lee, Michaels, Downs, Johnson, Hall, Towles, and Rodriguez pitching. Brett Wallace NOT in the line-up. Jays fans were looking forward to seeing him again, well maybe.
Jays: Escobar, Patterson, Bautista, Hill, Rivera, Arencibia, Thames, Davis, Nix and Jo Jo Reyes pitching. I love that speed at the bottom of the order.

Top 1st: Bourn, no what a horrible start, bunting up the line, where is Reyes ???? Rivera has it but Reyes not at the bag. This is National League guys, wake up. Barmes, there he goes, Bourn takes second without even a throw, wow so easy. Full count. Ball four, two on nobody out. Pence, grounds to Rivera throw to Reyes but both runners move up. Two in scoring position, one down. Lee, 0-2 count, 2-2, nice pitch strikes out swinging, two down. Michaels, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging, and Reyes escapes big trouble.
Bottom 1st: Jays need to get a few runs on the board to give Reyes some breathing room here. Escobar leading off, fly ball to left but not far enough, one down. Patterson, strikes out swinging, two down for Bautista. Outside ball one, gets under this one looper to left but Bourn gets it on the run, he can fly, three up and down for Jays.

Top 2nd: Downs, full count, strikes out swinging number three tonight, Johnson, lines it to left, of the wall to Patterson, great throw to get Johnson at second, two down. Hall, full count, grounds to Nix, throw to Rivera for third out. Much better inning for Reyes.
Bottom 2nd: Hill, hammers this one into left field corner, high off the wall, just misses going out and dives headfirst into second, close but ok. Aaron has been getting closer and closer to that wall in the last week. He will be out of there soon, no doubt at all. Rivera now, this one gets way way high inside to knock Rivera off the plate. Grounds to short, Hill breaking and out at third, should have held there Aaron. The mental stuff. Rivera at first, one down. Arencibia, doubles in to left that would have scored Hill Rivera to third. Two in scoring position for Thames. Grounds to second, here comes Rivera 1-0 Jays as throw gets Thames at first. Two down for Davis. Arencibia at third. Lines it to centre for the out. Hill’s error costly as that hit would have brought in second run.

Top 3rd: Towles, pops up to Bautista in shallow right centre. Bourn, strikes out looking, Bourn cannot believe it, two down. Barmes, strikes out swinging, his fifth strikes out in first nine at bats.
Bottom 3rd: Nix, grounds to first, makes the play himself, one down for Escobar. Grounds to third, throw to first two down. Patterson, singles into left. Hit number 1,000. Bautista, lines it hard to left but great diving, rolling catch by Michaels to rob Jose there of an RBI double. Excellent catch.

Top 4th: Pence singles first pitch into centre, one on for Lee, pops up to Hill, one down. Michaels, that will do it, grounds to Escobar, to Hill over to Rivera double play ball. Nice play.
Bottom 4th: Hill, wants to make up for that mental, error last at bat. 2-2 count, down and way and leaves it, that much better Aaron, full count, singles back up the middle, 2-2 night. Rivera, that will do Juan, singles into centre, Hill to second, two on nobody out for Arencibia. Grounds to Barmes diving to get the ball and flip to second throw to first, double play ball. Ouch. Hill to third. NO Eric, swinging away at first pitch, head way in the air, and pops it up, not good at all. Leaves Hill out at third.

Top 5th: Matt Downs, grounds to Nix at third, long throw to Rivera, one down. Johnson, hits him on the foot, one on one down for Hall, strikes out swinging, throw to second but Johnson safe. Two down for Towles, pops it up foul, OH way to go Juan, Rivera, sliding at the wall to make great catch. We have not seen that from a Jays first baseman for LONG time.. looking good out there Juan. With your glove as well as your bat.
Bottom 5th: Davis leading off, grounds to short, great effort by Rajai but throw gets him. Nix, strikes out looking but that was very low, Escobar, two down, doubles to the wall in left, Patterson. 3-1 count, Escobar distracting Rodriguez, low ball four, two on two down for Bautista. Jose a little quiet in recent games but to be fair the pitchers are not giving him much to hit. Strikes out looking. Jose does NOT like that call. Jays are leaving runners out there in droves tonight.

Top 6th: Bourn, singles to Bautista in right, one on for Barmes, bunting, pops it up to Rivera, one down. Pence, Bourn going but pitch out and Arencibia throw gets him, Bourn does not agree !!! is FURIOUS, first time he has been caught this season. Lee, two down, full count. Pops up to centre, Davis cannot see it but at last minute dives to grab third out. Drama at Rogers Centre in that inning.
Bottom 6th: Hill leading off again, 2-2 tonight. Does it again doubles into the left field corner but for third time has been there and yet to score, can they bring him in this time? Rivera, pop up into shallow right, and they drop it, whoa... Hill gets to third, Rivera to first, two on for Arencibia, not enough, pops it to shallow centre. Have to bring him in there JP, forget the home run swing, base hit is what is needed. He will (have to) learn. Jays now 1-8 runners in scoring position. Thats it for Rodriguez. Escalona now pitching, lefty lefty match up. Thames, strikes out swinging on three pitches. Two down, that’s it for Escalona, one guy. Del Rosario, Davis FINALLY singles into left, here comes Hill to score 2-0 Jays. Two on two down for Nix. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. The guy I feel sorry for is Reyes, watching all those hitters getting on base and not bringing them in for a bag of runs.. 2-10 now with runners in scoring position. That is really bad.

Top 7th: Lee, grounds to Escobar, diving stop to save it and throw to Rivera for first out, Michaels grounds to short but Escobar long off-balance throw not in time to get Michaels at first. Downs, slow bouncer to Escobar throw to first for second out, no chance for double play. Johnson, strikes out swinging, nice pitching JoJo. You have done more than enough tonight. Too bad you have not had the run support.
Bottom 7th: Top of the order. Escobar, leading off, grounds first pitch to third, throw to first for the out. One down for Patterson, grounds to second throw to first for second out. Three pitches two outs. Bautista, last chance for Jose tonight. 2-0 outside, inside, inside again 3-0. Takes strike one ??? ball four. One on two down for Hill who is 3-3 tonight. Jose distracting pitcher here, 2-0 count, grounds to Johnson at third, throw to first for the out.

Top 8th: That’s it for Reyes, Rauch now pitching. Jo Jo hanging around to see if they can hold it for him here. Bogusevic pinch hitting, bounces to Rivera at first throw to Rauch for the out. Towles, lifts it to Bautista shallow right for second out. Bourn top of the order. Full count, ball four, that was very close pitch, you didn’t want to put this guy on. Barmes, 0-2 count, 2-2, singles back up the middle, two on two down for Pence, oh boy, this was an accident waiting to happen, Hammers it to right over Bautista here comes two runs, and Reyes once again throw to home not good. Runner at second, Lee fly ball to Davis for third out but too little too late. Jays hitters all night long have thrown away their chances and once again ruined game for JoJo Reyes. Now they are up against it.
Bottom 8th: What do Jays hitters have here?, hopefully no more of that undisciplined first pitch swinging which has backfired big-time tonight. Rivera leading off. Lopez now pitching. Strikes out swinging. One down for Arencibia, this is one guy who has to forget the home run swing on every pitch, a single was all that was needed last time JP. Strikes out looking. Thames another one but at least he has the inexperience as an excuse. Full count, strikes out on ball four outside. You can feel this one slipping away from the Jays but they have themselves to blame tonight,

Top 9th: Francisco pitching. Michaels, full count, strikes out looking, one down. Downs, another full count, ball four, Johnson, 2-0 two in the dirt, now Francisco is having trouble, 3-1 another in the dirt. Another full count, oh boy, this one is out of here, long drive into left field 4-2 Astros. Francisco has nothing tonight. That will clear crowd out, What a mess. To the worst team in the majors !!! Hall, singles to centre, Camp warming up, that’s it for Francisco horrible outing to ruin this one. Sanchez singles to centre. Towles, WHOA great play by Rivera. Grounds to Escobar, throw to Rivera great play to get him and fall off the bag. Sanchez at third on play. Bourn two down. Grounds back off leg of Camp, throw by Escobar no chance to get Bourn and Sanchez scores 5-2 Astros. Barmes, there goes Bourn safe on throw, fly ball to Davis for third out.
Bottom 9th: Always interesting to see how much fight this team has in this situation. This is embarrassing against a team that is on five game losing streak, has won three games in the last fifteen and is in the cellar in the NL Central. But many fans have left and I for one do not blame then here this game was awful. I would be asking for my money back tonight. Melancon now pitching. Davis leading off, singles to right, Nix who has just not found his stroke yet since his injury. Strikes out swinging, overmatched there. One down. Escobar, grounds to second throw to the bag over to first double play to end this. I have no idea why Davis had not stolen second earlier to stay out of that very situation but tonight this team was at its worst. Ruining an excellent game from Reyes and denying him once a win once again.

The major issue here tonight was the 2-10 runners in scoring position.
The very good: We have to give JoJo Reyes the gold star tonight, he did everything he could to win this one. Seven strikes outs in seven innings. Took the game into the eighth where his bullpen let him down so badly tonight,
The good: Rivera catch in fifth and over all hitting, Hill with three hits, we have said before over the last week definitely getting his stroke back.
The not so good: Hill mental error in the second inning getting thrown out at third. But the runners in scoring position was the major problem and until this team can improve that stat they will continue to lose games like this one. Rauch and Francisco what can one say. It looks as if Francisco had a dead arm, has had too many outings recently, he had nothing tonight, full counts, balls in the dirt, and did not look dominant at all.