Jays power and excellent bullpen support Reyes win

Jays v Reds. Game one of three.

This could be an ugly road trip let alone this first series. Jays face three tough opponents and then end up with rain postponed game in Detroit. They will be very lucky to split this trip and could end up with only a couple of wins out of the ten games or if they went 0-10 I would not be surprised. The bullpen is beaten up already, there is no DH and the hitters are missing in action.

Line-ups: Toronto: Escobar, Patterson, Bautista, Lind, Rivera, Arencibia, Hill, Nix and Jo-Jo Reyes pitching. No Davis tonight in centre. Pitcher also hits.

Cincinnati: Stubbs, Phillips, Votto, Bruce, Rolen, Gomes, Hanigan, Janish, and Leake pitching.

Top 1st: Escobar grounds up the middle, throw to first Yunel does his usual amble down to first drives me crazy. I think the only solution is to drop him down the order put Davis as lead-off. Patterson one down, strikes out swinging. Two down for Bautista. Strikes out swinging.

Bottom 1st: Stubbs, strikes out swinging on three pitches. Phillips, hammers this to the wall, over head of Patterson playing center, do we ever miss Vernon out there. Double to Phillips. Votto, grounds to Lind, takes it himself, two down for Bruce. Phillips moves to third. Bruce strikes out swinging. Very nice Jo-Jo.

Top 2nd: Lind leading off, fly ball to Bruce in right, one down for Rivera. Grounds to Votto at first, throw to Leake for the second out. Arencibia, grounds to short, throw to Votto for third out.

Bottom 2nd: Ex-Jay Scott Rolen, pops up to Bautista in shallow right. One down for Jonny Gomes, singles into left, Hanigan, lines softly to Escobar at second, two down for Janish, lines it to left, Rivera runs it down to end the inning.

Top 3rd: Hill, in front of the plate, Leake makes great play to get Hill at first. Nix, no, first pitch grounds to short, please please Lawrie get up here fast. Reyes, bounces to short, throw to first. Thanks to Nix very quick inning.

Bottom 3rd: Leake, strikes out swinging, one down. Stubbs, full count, strikes out looking, two down. Phillips grounds first pitch to Escobar, throw to first for third out.

Top 4th: Escobar, grounds to short, throw to first, one down. Patterson, lines (first pitch) of course to Votto, takes it himself to the bag, two down. This might well be the lowest number of pitches for a pitcher the way these guys are going. Bautista, grounds to Janish, knocks it down, but no chance for throw, Jose safe at first. Lind make him pay Adam. There goes Bautista, throw in time to get Jose. At least we can see some aggression from this team, this has been missing for so long. I think a knock against the manager. This is not the exciting base stealing team we saw in April.

Bottom 4th: Votto. Full count, grounds to Hill, throw to Lind, one down. Bruce, same play bounces to Hill, throw to Lind, two down. Rolen, full count, grounds to Nix long throw to Lind for the out. This game is still under the hour for the first four innings. Jays hitters helping it Along with their futile first pitch outs.

Top 5th: Lind, grounds to second, throw to Votto, one down for Rivera. Grounds back up the middle to second, throw to Votto, two down. Arencibia, 2-2 count, bounces back up the middle acrobatic throw by Phillips to Votto just gets Arencibia. Great defensive play robs JP of a single.

Bottom 5th: Gomes grounds first pitch to Nix, long throw gets him at first. One down for Hanigan. Fly ball to Bautista, two down. Janish, bounces one to Nix, throw to Lind for third out.

Top 6th: Jays should make this a long inning as Leake has to bat first at the bottom of the inning. Hill, lines it to right for Bruce to make the catch in the corner, one down. Nix, fly ball to Bruce but on four pitches this time. Two down for Reyes. 2-2 count, singles up the middle, Way to go Jo-Jo. Escobar now. Grounds to third, throw to second to get Reyes.

Bottom 6th: Now Leake has to go back out there but so does Jo-Jo. Fly ball to Patterson in centre, one down. Stubbs, lines it to the wall in center right, Bautista and Patterson both going for it, both calling for it, and drops. Stubbs all the way in the park home run, 1-0 Reds. From here it looked as if Bautista had it but it is centre field call. Davis not playing out there tonight. Expensive omission. Phillips, lines it to right, Bautista makes nice running catch, two down for Votto. Shift on right, grounds to Hill, throw to Lind for third out.

Top 7th: Patterson and Bautista now have to make that up to Jo-Jo. Patterson showing bunt and gets hit on the foot, one on for Bautista. You know Jose is mad. 2-0 both down and away outside, there goes Patterson, safe on the throw. 2-1 count, runner in scoring position. 3-1 outside, Jose de man, drives it to the wall in left centre here comes Patterson, Jose at second for Lind, 1-1 game. Lind, WOW, hammers, bludgeons, launches this one over the wall in centre, way over that 404 mark, here comes Jose, here comes Adam 3-1 Jays just like that. That must be close to 430ft shot. Rivera still nobody out, grounds to second, throw to first for the first out. Arencibia, strikes out swinging on three pitches, two down for Hill. 2-2 count, perfect reaches out and makes contact a looper into right centre, that all counts Aaron. Nix, grounds to short, throw to second to get Hill. But Jays are back in this one big-time. Can the bullpen hold it? That is the question these days with Jays pitching staff.

Bottom 7th: Reyes still out there. Bruce leading off. Strikes out swinging, one down for Rolen, oh dear drives this one a bullet to left over the fence, home run Rolen, 3-2 game. Gomes singles in to left centre, one on one down for Hanigan. Crowd back in the game now. Hanigan singles into left. Two on. Here comes the boss. Reyes had a great game. Johnny Mac in at third for Nix. Dotel now pitching. Janish, with two on. Pops up to Bautista in shallow right, two down. That`s it for Leake, Chris Heisey now pinch hitting for Leake. Full count, grounds to Johnny Mac takes it himself to the bag for third out. Dotel does his job.

Top 8th: It would be nice to get a couple more here. Johnny Mac first at bat, Logan Ondrusek now pitching. Very nice, grounds it down the third base line, past a diving Rolen all the way to second base. Escobar, 2-0 not bunting. Bounces to short, Johnny Mac already running and safe at third, throw to first for the first out. Patterson, oh boy bounces to Phillips at second, throw home to get McDonald. Two down Patterson at first. Bautista, 2-1 count, pitching him outside. Wild pitch and Patterson moves up to second, too bad it was not when McDonald was at third. 3-1 count, pops it up to Votto at first.

Bottom 8th: Top of the Reds order. Stubbs, Dotel still out there. Strikes out on three pitches. Nice. Phillips, strikes out swinging, two down. Here comes Farrell, lefty matchup for Votto. Rzepczynski has been awful recently. Time for a decent outing. Perfect grounds to Hill with shift right on, throw to Lind to finish this inning. Jays have one more inning to get some insurance.

Top 9th: Lind leading off. Nick Masset now pitching. Lines it to centre again but not as far and Stubbs makes the catch, one down for Rivera. Just foul in right corner. That was one awful swing Juan, as he strikes out waving weakly at ball outside. Arencibia, 2-2 count, pulls it to Rolen at third throw to Votto for third out.

Bottom 9th: Rajai Davis in centre, Patterson moves over to left. Get out those heart pills, one run game and Francisco pitching. Bruce leading off, strikes out swinging, one down. Rolen, not out of it yet Frankie. 2-2 count, strikes out looking, Rolen doesn’t agree, Two down for pinch hitter Fred Lewis, we have seen this guy before. Full count, singles to left centre. Take another pill friends. Hanigan, 0-1, pops it up to Bautista in shallow right running in to make the catch, what a great win for Jays and of course Jo-Jo Reyes. Save number seven for Francisco. Game only two and half hours.

The excellent: Lind power, Jose another two hit night. Jo-Jo Reyes 7.1 innings, is this the same guy who did not win a game in 28 attempts. Have to give a star also to the bullpen tonight. Dotel, Rzepczynski and Francisco 2.2 scoreless innings of relief kept the one run win for Reyes. The Bautista-Lind combination once again coming through bigtime.

Poor: First pitch outs by Nix and Patterson. The miscommunication between Patterson and Bautista in the outfield which resulted in the inside the park home run.