Jays sandlot defense ruins their power comeback as Pirates win 7-6

Pirates v Jays Game one of three.
Jays return home after long road trip. Old friend Lyle Overbay playing for the Pirates. Pirates have been playing well this week so Jays had better not take them lightly.

Pirates: Presley, D’Arnaud, Walker, McCutchen, Overbay, Diaz, Jones, Cedeno, McKenry and Correia pitching.
Jays: Escobar, Thames, Bautista, Lind, Rivera, Hill, Patterson, Encarnacion, Arencibia and Reyes pitching.

Top 1st: Presley leading off, grounds to Lind, almost a mess there, Lind takes it himself just gets there just, barely just, that was much too close. One down for Chase D’Arnaud, brother of Jays catcher prospect in the minors. Strikes out looking, two down. Neill Walker, full count. Strikes out swinging. Nice start for JoJo.
Bottom 1st: Escobar, high fly ball to McCutchen at the wall in right centre, but long out. One down for Thames. Fly ball to McCutchen shallow centre, two down. Bautista, 3-1 count, another fly ball to McCutchen in centre. Busy guy out there.

Top 2nd: McCutchen, 2-2 count, pops up to Rivera in left. One down for Overbay, takes strike three, three pitches, two down for Matt Diaz, singles to Thames in right. Garret Jones, grounds to Lind takes it himself for third out.
Bottom 2nd: Lind, lines it to the wall in right, long single. Rivera, looks at strike three, I hate that. One down for Hill, 0-2 count, grounds back to Correia, throw to second on to first, double play ball, Hill continues from last night same play.

Top 3rd: Ronny Cedeno, singles into right. One on for McKenry. 2-2 count, strikes out on ball at the chin. Way up in the zone. Presley, 2-2 count, full count, oh boy there it goes home run into right field seats, 2-0 Pirates. D’Arnaud, 3-0 count, JoJo rattled here, ball four, one on one down for Walker. There goes the runner, throw gets away into centre but runner stays at second. 2-0 Reyes has lost the strike zone. Here comes the pitching coach Walton to sort JoJo out. Pops up to Hill, two down for McCutchen, another wild throw by Arencibia, Walker goes to third on the throw, awful defence from Arencibia error on the play, pops this one up to Hill in foul territory behind first but almost collides with Lind. Jays need to get their heads into this game and fast. They are playing sandlot ball here.

Bottom 3rd: Patterson leading off, pops up to short, one down. Encarnacion, DH tonight. Hammers this one, over the bullpen into left seats. Home run Edwin, 2-1 game. Arencibia hitting number nine, good spot for him right now, not the best right now, full count, fouling them off here but just missing. 10 pitch at bat. Strikes out swinging at one inside. 11 pitch at bat. Two down for Escobar. High pop up to right but Jays get one back at least.

Top 4th: Overbay, singles first pitch into centre, one on for Diaz, what a horrible play, lines it to right centre, bounces over head of Thames as he totally misjudged that ball. Bounces to the wall as back up Patterson misses the ball. Overbay scores and Jones to third, 3-1 Pittsburgh still no outs and Diaz at third, Jones full count. Bounces to Lind, where is Reyes ???? not over at first in time, Lind has no one to throw to, Jones safe at first. Run scores 4-1 Pittsburgh. what is happening out there ? bush league defense. Cedeno, there goes Jones and once again Arencibia throw wild nowhere near the bag, Hill saves that one. Singles over head of Hill, into right. Runner to third. Two on and still nobody out. McKenry, 1-2 count. strikes out swinging, Bronx cheer by the crowd for the first out of the inning. Presley, loops it into shallow centre, 5-1 Pittsburgh. D’Arnaud, two on one down, fly ball to centre, right at Patterson and able to make the catch did not have to move fortunately. Two down. Walker still with two on, singles into left, here comes Presley, 6-1 Pittsburgh. Finally Farrell is out there much too late but better than nothing. Am not sure this Jays offense is good enough to overcome this deficit. Perez now pitching McCutchen grounds to Bautista at third, throw to second to end this agony.
Bottom 4th: Jays now have to play this one out for some respectability here but it is the mental part of their game tonight that is awful. Not a way to pack in the fans at home. Thames, who started this mess last inning. full count, singles into left, Bautista but even he cannot score five runs. 2-0 count, Jose will not get anything to hit here. Full count, bends his knee, gets that swing and there she goes, no doubt about this one, into left field seats home run Jose. 6-3 Pittsburgh. Lind, strikes out swinging at a ball in the dirt, not a good at bat Adam. Rivera, lazy swing and pops it up to first, two down for Hill. At least no chance for double play Aaron, grounds to short, throw to first Jose has to do it all tonight I am afraid.

Top 5th: Overbay started the rot last inning. Strikes out this time. Diaz, 1-2 count, singles into right. Jones, 2-2 count, grounds to Hill, throw to Escobar for one, no chance for double play, two down for Cedeno. Full count, takes strike three for final out. Perez has done his job and held them, now can the Jays hitters get it going?
Bottom 5th: Patterson lines it to left one down. Encarnacion, fly ball to centre, two down. Arencibia, having a terrible game behind the plate tonight. one way to get on base, hits him on the arm. Cuts him on the elbow. Perhaps that will help his throwing tonight...Escobar with one on. Two down, grounds to short throw to first to leave Arencibia out there.

Top 6th: McKenry 2-2 count, strikes out looking, one down. Presley, full count, strikes out swinging, two down for D’Arnaud, grounds to Escobar at short throw to Lind for third out. Three up and down inning?
Bottom 6th: Thames leading off. lines this one to the wall in right centre, Thames turning on the speed and all the way to third, Bautista, must like having Thames hitting in front of him. 1-2 crowd thinks that was low. Bounces to third, here comes Thames d’Arnaud fumbles the ball and Bautista safe at first, 6-4 Pittsburgh. Now Lind, your turn. 2-0 count, 3-0, not giving Adam much here. Ball four, two on nobody out. Rivera, ball one, 2-0, the worst, Rivera pops it up six feet away for Overbay, one down. Hill, what is with this guy? Grounds it to short, throw to second over to first yet another double play ball by Hill, that is his third double play in two games ???? Ruins this inning. Maybe that is why the coaches are trying to get him to go the other way.

Top 7th: Walker, grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind, one down for McCutchen, lines it high into left field seats, 7-4 Pittsburgh, the Hill poor at bats are counting big now. Overbay, 2-2 count. Bounces to Lind, takes it himself for the second out. Diaz, here comes Farrell, that’s it for Perez he did very well, stopped the bleeding in the fourth and gave up just one run. Dotel now pitching. Diaz, 3-3 tonight, 1-2 count here, pops it up to Patterson in centre for third out. Dotel did his job as did Perez. It is the Jays hitters without the name of Bautista that need to appear tonight.
Bottom 7th: Tony Watson now pitching. Patterson bunting over the backstop. 2-2 count, this will do it, turns on this one pulls it into right field seats home run to Patterson, 7-5 Pittsburgh. Encarnacion, full count, Oh boy Edwin, hammers this one high into left centre, 7-6 Pittsburgh. Two home runs for Edwin, must be a full moon out there tonight we have seen everything tonight. Four home runs for Jays and now a one run ball game. Chris Resop now pitching. Arencibia, can he go back to back to back? Has the power. 2-0 count, down and away, 3-0. Ball four. Escobar now one on and still nobody out. Ball one, 3-1 count, lines it into left field corner, Arencibia to third, Escobar a double. Two in scoring position. Thames, nobody out. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down for Bautista. Will they walk him, yes indeed, bases loaded, one down for Lind. That`s it for Resop. Jose Veras now pitching. Ball one, 2-0 count, oh boy, lines it to first, Overbay doubles up Bautista off first. Second inning they have had their chances, will they get a third.

Top 8th: Camp now pitching. Jones leading off. Bounces to Hill, throw to Lind one down. Cedeno. Full count, outside ball four, not what the Manager wants Camp. McKenry, pitch out and finally Arencibia gets a good throw and gets Cedeno at second. Two down, 3-1 count, Camp trying to be too fine here, singles into right. Presley, lines it to third, great catch by Bautista for third out.
Bottom 8th: Can Jays get one. Veras still pitching. Rivera, grounds to d`Arnaud, throw to Overbay one down. Hill having a terrible game tonight, fly ball to centre, that was where we wanted last at bat. Two down. Can the Jays afford Hill just for his glove when there are alternatives. Patterson fly ball to Jones in right. Jays go far too quietly.
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Top 9th: Rauch now pitching. Davis in centre. D`Arnaud leading off. 2-2 count, pops up to Hill, one down. Walker, grounds to Hill throw to Lind, two down. McCutchen, full count. Strikes out swinging. Bullpen has done their job but the hitters need one more.
Bottom 9th: Hanrahan closing this one down 22-22 this season, no contest. Encarnacion bounces to third, throw to first, one down. Arencibia, first pitch, I give up, bounces to short, throw to first, two down. Does Arencibia realise he needs to get on base here. Two down Escobar, bounces high to short and beats out the throw, safe at first. Escobar can hustle when he needs to. Thames, two down one on. 2-2 count. Strikes out swinging. Same old Jays. They had their chances and unable to come through with runners in scoring position.

The good: Tonight Encarnacion with his two home runs, Bautista with his home run to get the Jays back in this one down 6-1 and a 3RBI night, and the bullpen. Maybe just maybe Encarnacion is in one of those hitting streaks that Cito said he is capable of.

The awful: Where do we start with this tonight? Awful defence from Arencibia in the third and the fourth, fortunately neither throw cost the Jays in the third at least. Games like this you realise Arencibia still has lots to learn defensively. Thames in right, Patterson in centre, should never be out there. Reyes where was he tonight? His failure to get to first for the throw cost him a run and this was a one run ballgame. Hill hits into two double plays and hitless all night. Arencibia with his bat in the ninth. Jays 0-5 with runners in scoring position and still they had a chance to win this one.