Jays v Mariners Game two of three.
Late night last night and a downer for Mariners who must have felt they had broken their losing streak. I think Pineda definitely pitched well enough for the win and on the other hand Cecil was terrible yet muddled through thanks to great defensive support from the outfield. Snider in centre in particular was a very pleasant surprise. Davis has been one of my favourites since we saw him for the first time in Dunedin in March and should be in the line-up. Morrow’s first game against his old team, at least he should be motivated.
Line-ups: Mariners: Suzuki, Ryan, Ackley, Smoak, Kennedy, Carp, Gutierrez, Seager, Bard and Vargas pitching.
Jays: Escobar, Thames, Bautista, Lind, Encarnacion, Snider, Hill, Davis, Molina and Morrow pitching.
Top 1st: Ichiro, singles back up the middle through Morrow. Ryan, full count, ball four, two on for Ackley. 3-1 count, ball four to load the bases and nobody out. Morrow in deep trouble. Smoak, strikes out swinging but 17 pitches to get the first out is not acceptable. Kennedy, pops it up to Molina a few feet away from the plate, two down. Bases still loaded for Carp, full count. That will do, Carp lines it right at Escobar for third out leaving the bases loaded. Morrow escapes huge damage early but his pitch count is already 26.
Bottom 1st: Escobar, lines it to centre, Gutierrez makes nice running catch, one down for Thames. High fly ball to Carp in left, two down for Bautista still DH tonight. 1-2 count, fly ball to Gutierrez in centre to end the inning.
Top 2nd: Gutierrez leading off. 2-2 count, lines it to Snider in left for first out. Seager, strikes out swinging, two down for catcher Bard. Full count. Ball four inside, walk number three, Morrow is living dangerously. Ichiro, grounds to Escobar at short, takes it himself to the bag. Much better inning for Morrow.
Bottom 2nd: Lind leading off. Full count, that will do lines it to right. Great play by Ichiro to save at least a base, saves it from going to the wall. Encarnacion, lines it to left, Lind going to third and throw is off line and Lind safe at third. Edwin holds at first. Snider with two on and nobody out. 3-1 count. Very nice Travis, drives it to centre, sacrifice fly, Lind tags and scores. 1-0 Jays. Hill with one down and Encarnacion still stuck at first. There goes Edwin throw not in time and Encarnacion safe at second. Full count, ball four. Davis, lines it to second, no chance to double up Edwin as he holds at second. Two down for Molina. There goes Edwin and steals third with no throw. Full count. Low ball four and bases loaded for Escobar. 29 pitches, 2-0 count, way outside 3-0 count, ball four and here comes Edwin 2-0 Jays. Thames, this is trouble. Lines it to left field corner but fan touches it and prevents run, dumb fan with Jays shirt on as well. Encarnacion and Hill score 4-0 Jays. Bautista, gets the intentional walk to load them up again. Lind hammers this to left but caught at the wall, great catch by Carp, almost goes out of the ballpark. That would have really broken the game open.
Top 3rd: Ryan, strikes out swinging, one down for Ackley. 2-2 count. Pops up to Hill, two down. Smoak, grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind for third out. Nice inning for Morrow, he should be able to relax with the four run lead.
Bottom 3rd: Encarnacion, hammers it over the glove of Seager at third, into the left field corner, and only just safe on the throw from left, another double for Edwin. Snider, 2-2 count, lines it back up the middle here comes Edwin, 5-0 Jays. Second rbi for Travis. Hill, Lines it to left, great diving catch by Carp. That would have been more trouble for Mariners if that had got past him to the wall. Davis, oh dear Vargas has Travis picked off and out on the throw, Travis moved too early. Two down, full count. Ball four and Davis walks. Vargas now has problems with Rajai. Molina, 0-2 count, there he goes and Molina lines it to Ichiro in right, Rajai going to third and beats off-line throw by Ichiro. Two on two down for Escobar. Jamey Wright up in the Mariners bullpen. Escobar lines this one hard to the wall in right centre but Gutierrez runs it down to make another great catch. Seattle defence is helping Vargas here from further damage.
Top 4th: Kennedy singles it to Snider in left. Carp, drives it hard to left Snider makes the catch up against the wall. Nice play Travis. One down for Gutierrez, strikes out on three pitches. Number four for Morrow. Seager, two down, one on. Lines it to Thames in right. Two on for Bard. Doubles to the wall in right, two runs score, 5-2 Jays. Ichiro with runner at second. Bounces to Hill throw to Lind just gets Ichiro.
Bottom 4th: Jamey Wright now pitching, Thames leading off. WOW lines this one to the wall in right centre and Gutierrez again runs it down and gets it at the wall. WOW this guy is very good. Bautista, 3-1 count, ball four, second walk for Jose tonight. One down for Lind. 3-1 count, ball four, another walk. Encarnacion with two on and one down. Grounds to short, throw to second to get Lind over to first drops the ball and Edwin safe at first,. Two down with runners at the corners for Snider. WOWEEEEEE Travis, drives this one deep to right centre, over the fence, Gutierrez and Ichiro are not getting this one, over the fence, here comes Bautista, here comes Encarnacion, three run home run. 8-2 Jays. Five rbi night for Snider, ties his career high and it is only the fourth inning. And that was a typical Snider line drive, power, over the wall, he is so strong. Hill, Wright hits Hill in the back. Of course unintentional HA!. We shall see later in this game. Davis singles back up the middle. Hill stops at second. Molina pops it up to Carp in left.
Top 5th: Ryan, singles to Snider in left. One on for Ackley. Drives it to Snider in left, one down, one on for Smoak strikes out throw by Molina to second not in time to get Ryan. Two down for Kennedy, lines it to Thames in right for third out.
Bottom 5th: Laffey now pitching. Escobar, grounds to first, takes it himself, one down for Thames. Lines it hard at Kennedy at first, fumbles the ball but recovers to throw to Laffey for the second out. Bautista, gets hold of this one and hammers it into the corner in left. Stand up double for Jose. Lind, fly ball to Carp in left to end this one.
Top 6th: Johnny Mac now in at short for Escobar. Carp grounds to Johnny Mac throw to Lind, one down. Gutierrez, full count, strikes out swinging, number six for Morrow tonight. Two down for Seager, grounds to Hill, throw to Lind for third out. 96 pitch count, could be his last inning.
Bottom 6th: Encarnacion, WHOA Edwin, gets hold of this one and lines it off the old restaurant windows 9-2 Jays and Edwin 4 rbis. Snider now, can he add to his five. Not this time grounds to second throw to first for the out. One down for Hill. Lines to Gutierrez in centre for out number two. Davis, loops it into right, Ichiro misplays it as it bounces over his head, we have seen that before with this turf, Davis to second. Molina. Singles to Ichiro in right, Davis stops at third, respecting Ichiro throwing arm. Johnny Mac singles into left, here comes Davis, 10-2 Jays. Thames with two on, two down. Strikes out swinging.
Top 7th: Bard, lines it hard to right, Thames makes a nice running catch. Ichiro, one down. Lines it to left, Lind makes great diving catch to his left, robs Ichiro of at least a double. Jays have had some great defence in the last two games. Ryan doubles past Davis to the wall in centre. Ackley, doubles past Snider to the wall in left, Ryan scores 10-3 Mariners. Smoak, 1-2 strikes out swinging. 110 pitch count seven strikeouts that will be it for Morrow tonight. Who will be pitching the eighth? Francisco was warming up in bullpen, maybe an inning.
Bottom 7th: Bautista leading off. Laffey still pitching.3-1 count, grounds to third, long throw beats Jose at first. One down for Lind. Adam great swing and this one is off the windows, another home run for Lind. 11-3 Jays. Encarnacion, triple for the cycle. Full count, strikes out swinging. Two down for Snider full count, bounces to second, throw to first for the out.
Top 8th: Francisco now pitching. Kennedy leading off, oh dear Frankie, first pitch lined into visitors bullpen in right field, home run Seattle 11-4 Jays. Carp, first pitch lines into right, Frankie doing a great job to keep his job. Gutierrez, Bronx cheer for a strike. 0-2 count. Fly ball to left, Snider makes long run but gets the out. One down for Seager. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. Two down for Bard. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging but not a convincing outing from Francisco. May be a little rusty but that is what the bullpen is for to get ready for his appearance.
Bottom 8th: Chris Ray now pitching. Hill leading off. Pops up to the catcher Bard one down. Davis, 1-2 count, grounds to second, throw to Kennedy at first for the second out. Molina strikes out swinging.
Top 9th: Dotel now pitching. Ichiro pops up to Thames in shallow right. One down for Ryan, singles to Thames in right. Ackley hammers this to right corner into the seats, two run home run. 11-6 Jays. Smoak grounds to Lind takes it himself for the out. Two down Kennedy lines to Snider for third out. Jays win big. 11-6 and Seattle now eleven game losing streak.
The excellent: Snider 5 RBI. And all in his first three at bats. After disastrous game last night Travis had obviously made the changes. The line drive home run was classic Travis, showing that strength of his. Travis has now had two five RBI games in the last two weeks. If he continues this it will be very exciting to watch him in the last ten weeks of the season.
Encarnacion in a groove with his hitting three hits and a powerful home run to centre long may it last. Lind his second home run in two games, let us hope he is coming around again and in another good groove.
One other major plus is the fact that the hitting load is being spread around the line-up and reducing the pressure on Bautista as he returns from his ankle injury. He can concentrate on his own swing and not winning every game.
The good: Morrow had bases loaded and nobody out in the first and escaped with no runs. That could have been the turning point of the game especially in context of Francisco and Dotel pitching. Jose Molina with his two hits, Arencibia is in for the season but Molina is showing him some fine clutch hitting.
The not so good: Francisco and Dotel. Not the ideal way to end this one and once again concerns re Francisco for a closer, he may find himself just pitching garbage innings in the blowout games.
Tomorrow Romero, he has much to prove after his own lousy outing against the Yankees. He had better not take this Seattle team lightly. Should be a great crowd if only to escape the heat for a few hours. Rogers management are announcing the closure of the roof in light of high record heat day. Excellent idea as I was in two minds not to go if the roof had been open. 45 degrees humidity for three hours, no thanks.
The other plus should mean that many more (noisy) children will be at the game and that is always a great atmosphere, they do not need cheerleaders, they should and scream for three hours. Jays should take advantage and feed off it.
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