Jays v Royals Series finale.
Jays hoping to get out of here with a series win. And go back to Toronto on a win streak to face division leaders Red Sox. Romero today, overdue for an emphatic win but I don’t think he has been dominating ever since he was named number one in the rotation. May turn out to be a huge mistake.
Line-ups: Jays: McCoy, Patterson, Bautista, Lind, Arencibia, Hill, Encarnacion, Davis, Nix and Romero pitching.
Royals: Maier, Cabrera, Hosmer, Francouer, Butler, Betemit, Aviles,Treanor, Escobar and pitching.
Top first: McCoy leading off, grounds to Betemit at third, throw to Hosmer at first, one down. Patterson pops up to Aviles at second, two down for Bautista, weird play as Jose steps back, strikes out.
Bottom first: Maier leading off grounds to Lind for the first out. Cabrera pops up to Nix at third, two down. Hosmer singles to Patterson in left. One on two down for Francoeur, that will do, grounds to McCoy, playing short today for Escobar, throw to Lind to get Francouer.
Top second. Lind leading off, grounds to second, beats out throw. Arencibia pops up to Aviles at second. Hill grounds to Betemit at third, throw to Aviles over to Hosmer at first, double play ball.
Bottom second: Butler leading off, ball four, leadoff walk, Jays pitchers have walked their way to ruin this series. Betemit one on, strikes out. Aviles, one on one down, grounds to McCoy throw to Hill to get Butler. Treanor, great pickoff by Romero to Lind to get him and end the inning.
Top third: Encarnacion leading off, lines to Cabrera in centre, one down for Davis, pops up to Hosmer at first two quick outs. Nix fly ball to Cabrera. Three up and down. Jays in a rush to get back to face Red Sox.
Bottom third: Treanor leading off, Romero hits him, one on for Escobar, grounds to third, safe at first, Treanor to second. Two on for Maier grounds to Arencibia, throw to Nix, Treanor out, Escobar to second. Cabrera grounds to McCoy throw to Hill to get Maier at second, Escobar to third. Hosmer with two down. Singles to Bautista in right. Escobar scores 1-0 Royals. Cabrera to third, error on the play by Bautista and Hosmer goes to second. Francouer, singles to right, here comes Cabrera and Hosmer, 3-0 Royals.
Francoeur to second. Butler singles to Bautista in right, Francoeur coming home, here is the throw. Francoeur out at the plate, great throw by Jose. But Royals have the lead.
Top fourth: McCoy leading off, 3-0, ball four, that is what a leadoff guy should do in my book at least with Paterson, Bautista and Lind behind him. Patterson fly ball to Cabrera in centre. Bautista, one down and one on, grounds to Betemit at third, throw to Aviles at second to get McCoy. Lind with two down and one on, here we go singles to centre, Bautista all the way to third. Two on two down for Arencibia, this one should do it. Arencibia lines it hard to the wall in left; here comes Bautista, here comes Lind, Arencibia all the way to third, 3-2 Royals. Hill with runner at third. Ball four. Two on but here comes Encarnacion, fly ball to Cabrera in centre. Jays waste another golden opportunity.
Bottom fourth: Romero needs to hold them here and not let them get a run back. Betemit leading off grounds Hill at second, throw to first base Lind. One down for Aviles, pops up to Arencibia. Two down for Treanor, perfect strikes out.
Top fifth. Davis leading off fly ball to Cabrera in centre, one down. Nix singles to left.
McCoy with one on, patient at bat here, ball four Nix to second. Two on one down for
Patterson, groan, grounds to Aviles at second, throw to Escobar over to Hosmer at first, double play ball.
Bottom fifth. Escobar leading off, bunts back to Romero, throw to first base Lind. One down for Maier, doubles to Davis in centre. Cabrera fly ball to Bautista in right. Two down for Hosmer, grounds to Lind at first to step on the bag. Ricky leaves Maier out there.
Top sixth. Bautista leading off, pops up to Aviles at second, one down. Lind singles to right. Arencibia strikes out. Two down for Hill, with Lind at first. Fly ball to Maier in left.
Bottom sixth. Francoeur leading off strikes out. One down for Butler strikes out. Two down for Betemit, doubles to Bautista in right. Aviles one on two down, fly ball to Patterson in left to strand Betemit.
Top seventh. Encarnacion leading off, singles to left. Good start, Davis with one on, strikes out. Nix one on one down, grounds to Escobar throw to Aviles, over to first base Hosmer, double play.
Bottom seventh. Romero still out there. Treanor leading off, singles to right. Escobar grounds back to Romero throw to Lind, Treanor moves to second, one down. Maier grounds to Lind steps on the bag himself to get Maier, Treanor to third. Two down for Cabrera grounds to Nix throw to Lind for final out.
Top eighth. Crow now pitching. McCoy leading off, full count, ball four. One on for
Patterson, grounds back to pitcher Crow throw to first base Hosmer, McCoy to second.
Bautista with runner at second, Crow not giving in to Jose, 3-0 count, ball four.
Lind with one down and two on base, strikes out. Two down for Arencibia. Wild pitch, McCoy moves up to third, Bautista to second. Big chance here for Arencibia, grounds to Escobar throw to first base Hosmer. Once again Jays unable to bring them in.
Bottom eighth. Romero still out there. Hosmer bunting, Romero throw to first base Lind, one down. Francoeur Romero hits him. One on for Butler. There goes Francouer, safe at second. Butler full count, ball four. Betemit with two on, Romero in trouble here, Betemit grounds to McCoy throw to second base Hill on to Lind, double play ball at exactly the right time for Romero.
Top ninth. Last chance for Jays. Getz in at second base. Soria pitching for the save.
Hill leading off fly ball to Cabrera in centre. Encarnacion, one down singles to left. One on one down for Juan Rivera pinch-hitting for Davis. Rivera singles to left, Encarnacion to second. Jays have something going here in their last chance. Nix strikes out. Two down for McCoy full count, ball four, bases loaded but two down Encarnacion to third, Rivera to second. Patterson, just a single here Corey, oh boy pops up to Betemit.
Jays lose another one run game and go home 4-3 road trip instead of a possible 6-1.
The good: Bautista throw to the plate to get Francouer. Lind 3-4 but all singles. McCoy three walks I like that for the hitters he has behind him. Romero a complete game, a positive but to no avail today. The value was in resting the bullpen for Boston series, playing like this they may need to be rested. Lind and Arencibia with four of the eight hits.
The not so good: Everything runners at second and third with two down in the 8th. Bases loaded in the 9th. Jays have to do something about this awful and continuous RISP failure. Three double plays Patterson, Hill and Nix. 1/7 runners in scoring position. Paterson leaves six out there. 21 left on base in total. Romero hits two batters. Jays face156 pitches compared to 112 from Romero, go figure. They had 46 more pitches to hit.
Losing two against a team that had just lost four to the Twins and is in slide. Jays appear unable to beat up on the worst of the league, whether they are AL or National League. Losing to the Astros, losing to the Royals. These are teams they have to sweep if they are to be taken seriously and not just an occasional flash in the pan.
Boston watching this series will be slathering to get to Toronto and an easy sweep after the NY battles. The Jays will have to play far above their current levels if they even want to avoid being embarrassed in front of their home crowd. But the maddening thing is that this Jays team is fully capable of sweeping the Red Sox, I doubt it will happen right now but if everything went well it is definitely possible.
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