Rzepczynski and Francisco blow good outing by Morrow

Jays v Royals. Game one of four.

Jays come into Kansas on a win streak, two of three series win from Baltimore. Kansas much stronger team this season and definitely not a pushover that they have been in previous seasons. I hope Jose can see some decent pitches this series with Lind behind him. Love that water in Kauffman Field outfield. Is this not a beautiful stadium?

Line-ups: Jays: Escobar, Patterson, Bautista, Lind (DH tonight), Rivera, Arencibia, Hill, Davis, Nix and Morrow pitching.
Royals: Gordon, Cabrera, Hosmer, Francouer, Butler, Aviles, Getz, Trainor, Escobar and Felipe Paulino pitching.

Top 1st: Escobar, oh boy grounds first pitch back to Paulino, throw to first, one down, not a leadoff at bat Yunel. Patterson, fly ball to Francouer in right, two down for Bautista. 2-2 count, grounds to third, throw to first to end this half.
Bottom 1st: Alex Gordon, pops up to Escobar at short, one down for Melky Cabrera, 3-1 count, ball four, one on one down for Eric Hosmer. Ball one, don’t mess around with this guy Brandon. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down for Jeff Francouer, there goes Cabrera but safe on throw to Hill, 2-2 count, fly ball to Davis for third out.

Top 2nd: Lind leading off. Drives it all the way to the wall in centre, so little effort in that swing, just carried all the way. Rivera, another fly ball to centre, two down. Arencibia, grounds to third, throw to first to end the inning. Easy six up and down so far for Paulino.
Bottom 2nd: Billy Butler, leading off, full count, strikes out swinging, Aviles ball four one on one down for Getz, 2-2 count, full count there goes the runner Aviles safe at second on the throw, Getz strikes out, Aviles to third, two down for Matt Treanor, problem is Morrow’s pitch count is already so high. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. But the difference in these two teams is that one is free swinging and the other more patient. One pitcher throwing strikes the other going deep in the count each at bat. Guess who will be there in the sixth?

Top 3rd: Hill leading off bottom third of the order, have they been watching Paulino in the first six at bats? Pops up to shallow centre, Melky Cabrera having busy night. Davis, bounces to third Paulino barehanded throw just gets Davis, great play. Two down for Nix. Jayson has not made a great play for spot in rotation since returning from DL. Pops up third pitch to third base. Nine up and down for free swinging Jays. Not a good night in store if they keep doing this.
Bottom 3rd: Alvides Escobar leading off, grounds to Nix throw to Rivera, one down. At least Jayson’s glove has not let him don so far at least. Gordon, 3-1 count, pops up to Davis in shallow centre. Two down for Cabrera, full count, grounds to Hill, throw to Rivera. The difference is in the pitch counts.

Top 4th: Has Escobar learned anything? 1-1 count, grounds it to third, throw pulls first base off the bag and called safe. Close play though and Manager arguing the call. Error to third. Patterson, wild pitch and Escobar to second. Another high ball outside, 2-2 count. Grounds to short, throw to first but Escobar gets to third on the throw. One down for Bautista, 1-2 count, grounds to short, throw to first to get Jose but Escobar scores 1-0 Jays, two down Lind. 3-0 count, full count, strikes out swinging.
Bottom 4th: Hosmer, 1-2 count, grounds to Escobar throw not good and Lind off the line, error to Escobar, that was not good at all. Francouer, 2-1 count, pops up to Bautista in shallow right, one down. Butler, drives it to Bautista in right. Two down, Aviles, drives it to the wall in right centre, here comes Hosmer 1-1 game, Escobar to third. Getz pops up to Patterson in left for third out.

Top 5th: Rivera, 0-2 count, ouch, hits him, strikes out as he swung at it. OUCH big-time. One down for Arencibia. 1-2 count, grounds to third, throw to Hosmer at first, two down. Hill 2-2 count, Aaron looks so awkward fouling these off. Full count, ball four. One on for Davis, there goes Hill, no throw. Steal number eight for Aaron. Strikes out swinging.
Bottom 5th: Treanor, pops up to Rivera at first. Escobar, same play pops up to Rivera, two down. Gordon, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging.

Top 6th: Nix leading off. Must be getting very frustrated with his lack of hitting. There we go Jayson, breaks up the no-hitter lines it to left. Escobar, oh boy Escobar grounds up the middle, steps on the bag throw to first, double play and Nix was running on that pitch. Sometimes this guy is something else. Patterson. 3-0 count, ball four, one on for Bautista. Outside, ball one, throwing over to keep Paterson safe, 2-2 count, full count, Patterson running and safe on the throw. Ball four outside, not taking any chances on Jose. Two on for Lind. Way outside but Adam swings at it. 1-2 count, takes strike three looking. Escobar at bat hurts Jays there.
Bottom 6th: Cabrera, lines it into right over Hills glove. One on Hosmer bunting, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. Francouer one on one down. Lines it to left, great diving catch by Patterson two down. Butler, 3-1 count, outside ball four. Two on. Aviles, 2-2 count, pops up to Davis in shallow centre.

Top 7th: Paulino 20 less pitches than Morrow. Rivera, 3-1 count, grounds over the bag at third, hits the bag and bounces into left, one on for Arencibia. Singles into right and Rivera all the way to third on the throw, nice base running by Rivera. Now runner at third with nobody out. Hill, big chance here Aaron. 3-1 count, that is perfect Aaron grounds to short, throw to second no chance for two. Rivera scores 2-1 Jays. One down. Davis, 2-1 count. Bounces back to Paulino, throw to first to get Davis, two down for Nix. There goes the runner Hill, ouch, Paulino hits Nix in the back. Two on, the end of Paulino. Greg Holland now pitching. Escobar not a great game tonight for Yunel. 3-0 count, where was this patience in the first inning. Lines it to centre for third out, 0-4 night for Escobar.
Bottom 7th: Camp pitching, we have not seen him recently. Getz, pops up to Bautista in right, one down for Treanor, 1-2 count, singles past Nix into left, one down one on for Escobar, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. That is it for Shawn, here comes the boss. Marc Rzepczynski now pitching to Gordon, lefty lefty matchup. Two down one on. 3-1 count, ball four, sometimes the match-ups do not work. Cabrera, 2-0 count, Rzepczynski losing his zone here. 3-0 count, nowhere near, ball four to load the bases.Back to back walks. Here comes Bruce Walton. Hosmer, ball one, ball two, should have left Camp in there. Ball three, ball four, here comes the run. 2-2 game. Bases still loaded. There goes Rzepczynski. Awful three times over not even a strike, well one in twelve pitches. Dotel pitching. Francouer with bases loaded. 0-2 count, throwing strikes, fly ball to Davis to lead the bases loaded. Rzepcyznski on the bus to Vegas.

Top 8th: Patterson, lines it to Francouer in right, one down for Jose, very quiet with his bat recently, may want to shave that beard off again. 2-2 count, singles into left. One on for Lind, 0-3 also very quiet tonight. 3-1 count, ball four in the dirt, semi-intentional. Here comes the coach again. Aaron Crow now pitching. Two on one down for Rivera. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down for Arencibia. Full count, swings at ball four. JP leaves two out there.
Bottom 8th: Dotel still out there, Butler, grounds up the middle to Escobar throw to Rivera, one down. Aviles, high fly ball to Davis at the wall in centre, two down. Getz, grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind for third out, nice inning by Dotel.

Top 9th: Hill leading off. Nice, singles back up the middle. One on for Davis, will he be bunting. Yes but fouls off, 0-2 count, fly ball to Francouer. Encarnacion pinch hitting for Nix. Manager Farrell rolling the dice again, not much luck tonight with his gambling. 2-0 count, ball three, ball four, two on for Escobar. Not a great night for Yunel but big chance here to get a gold star. McCoy pinch running for Edwin at first. Escobar nightmare evening, first pitch grounds to second, throw to first double play ball to ruin this one. Can you believe it, second double play tonight by Escobar, both on first pitches.
Bottom 9th: Casey Janssen pitching. Maier pinch hitting for Treanor. 2-2 count, takes strike three, very nice Casey. Escobar, grounds to Hill, throw to Rivera, two down. Gordon, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, beautiful pitch Casey. Extra innings game.

Top 10th: Patterson leading off. Joakim Soria pitching. Pena catching for Treanor. Grounds back to Soria throw to first gets him. Bautista, outside ball one, pops up to third, not a great night Jose, do shave that beard off. Lind, lines to short, throw wild and over first base. Error to Escobar at short. Not a good night for either Escobars. Rivera, one on two down. 1-2 count, takes strike three.
Bottom 10th: Frasor pitching. Cabrera 0-2 count, bounces to Hill throw to Rivera, one down. Hosmer, grounds to Rivera flip to Frasor but unable to hold that one. Error to Rivera. Rough call. That was a very difficult play. Francouer, lines it right at Davis, two down. Butler, two down and one on. 3-1 count, ball four, not good Jason. Aviles, way inside, almost hit him. 1-1 count, perfect, grounds to Escobar flip to Hill to end this one leaving two more out there.

Top 11th: Arencibia leading off. Pops up very high to third base. One down for Hill, on base twice tonight. Full count, pops up to left, two down for Davis. 0-4 night. 1-2 count. Grounds to third, throw to Hosmer at first to end Jays inning.
Bottom 11th: Francisco now pitching, why do I feel uneasy. Getz, drag bunt to Francisco unable to get throw in time, runner safe at first. One on for Brayan Pena, singles to left, two on nobody out. Escobar, bunting, to Francisco throw to first one down but runners in scoring position. Gordon, intentional walk to load them up. Cabrera lines it to third great diving catch by McCoy wow, two down. Hosmer, singles into right centre, Jays lose this one 3-2.
Lots of concerns now. They need a closer, a reliable one for a start. Francisco is not getting the job done.

The good: Morrow left with the lead and did enough to keep it close. Casey Janssen, Camp, Dotel and Frasor scoreless relief.

The terrible: Rzepcyznski, walked all three that he faced on thirteen pitches. Could not throw a strike, well he threw one. No excuse for that performance. Morrow will not buy him a drink tonight.
Escobar, wishes he had stayed in bed, lousy game, 0-4 night, first at bat, first pitch out, throwing error in the fourth, and grounds first pitch into double play in the sixth. Third at bat lines out with two on. Last at bat with two on first pitch grounds to second, on to first for his second double play out, WOW... bush league.

Not so good: Morrow deep into pitch counts almost every at bat, very few first pitch outs for Brandon. Davis 0-5 night. Francisco, well. Another poor outing.
Nothing that Manager Farrell did tonight worked, his gambling luck ran out.