Jays beat Rays 7-3 to avoid the sweep.

Rays v Jays. Final Game of four game series.

Jays facing an embarrassing sweep by the Rays. I hope every one of them looked in the mirror this morning and said no way. This is not just a poor series for the pitchers, the hitters have been non-existent. A lousy time to go into a slump but perhaps this is their last one for the season and they will have an amazing September. Most of the games will be against the Eastern playoff hopes so Jays have a great opportunity to play spoiler in many of the games and at the same time look at the 2012 line-up in more detail.

Line-ups: Rays: Jennings, Damon, Longoria, Zobrist, Kotchman, Upton and Wade pitching.
Jays: Escobar, Thames, Bautista, Lind, Encarnacion, Johnson, Lawrie, Arencibia, Wise and Romero pitching.

Top 1st: Jennings leading off, 3-0 count, ball four. Romero having problems finding the strike zone. Damon, lines this one to right and just over the fence in the corner. Rays go out ahead 2-0. This is not the start that Jays had hoped for with Romero. Longoria fly ball to Wise in centre, one down. Zobrist strikes out. Two down for Kotchman, grounds to Escobar but long throw not in time. Upton with one on, fly ball to Bautista in right to make the out and end the misery for Romero. Rays send six to the plate in the first inning and Romero pitch count is 28 that is definitely not a good start Ricky.
Bottom 1st: Escobar, full count and ball four, nice at bat Yunel. One on for Thames, grounds to Zobrist at second base, throw to Rodriguez at short to get Escobar. One down for Thames. Wild pitch and Thames moves to second. Another wild pitch and Thames at third. Bautista not getting much here, full count. ball four. Two on for Lind back in the line-up after a “rest day” yesterday. No Adam, that is awful, grounds to Zobrist at second, throw to Rodriguez over to Kotchman at first, double play ball.

Top 2nd: Joyce leading off, lines out to Thames in left, one down. Jaso, one down, strikes out. Two down. Rodriguez full count and ball four. One on two down for Jennings, fly ball to Bautista. Much better for Romero but still trails the Rays.
Bottom 2nd: Encarnacion fly ball to Joyce in right. One down for Kelly Johnson, fly ball to Jennings in left. Two down. Lawrie, there we go Brett, singles to centre. One on two down for Arenciba, There goes Lawrie and safe at second, Arencibia strikes out and leaves Lawrie in scoring position.

Top 3rd: Damon leading off, pops this one up to Lawrie at third, one down. Longoria, lines it to the wall in centre, Longoria with stand up triple. Romero in trouble again. Zobrist grounds back to Romero, he has Longoria picked off here and tag him in a rundown between Arencibia and Lawrie. One down Kotchman, grounds back to pitcher and under glove of Romero, safe at first on the error, Zobrist moves to third. More problems for Romero. Upton, grounds to Lawrie, throw to Lind. No damage done.
Bottom 3rd: Wise leading off strikes out. Not having much luck yet but his bat seems slow and he is holding it behind his head which would slow that swing down, I am sure that Jays coaches are working with him. Escobar singles to centre. Thames doubles to right, Escobar to third. Interesting situation. Bautista grounds to Zobrist throw to Kotchman to get Jose but run scores and Jays cut lead in half. 2-1 Rays. Thames moves to third. Lind, this one will do, hammers it to right centre, over the fences and Jays take the lead with two run home run, 3-2 Jays. Encarnacion grounds to Rodriguez throw to Kotchman at first.

Top 4th: Joyce grounds to Johnson at second, throw to Lind. Jaso, singles to centre. Rodriguez grounds to Lawrie throw to Johnson, Jaso out. Two down for Jennings, grounds to Lawrie throw to Lind for the third out.
Bottom 4th: Kelly Johnson leading off singles to centre. Lawrie grounds to Longoria throw to Kotchman, for the out but Johnson moves to second. Arencibia, doubles to left here comes Johnson to score, 4-2 Jays. Wise, grounds to Zobrist throw to Kotchman, Arencibia to third. Escobar singles to left, here comes Arencibia. 5-2 Jays. Thames singles to centre, Escobar to third. Bautista hit by a pitch, looked like his foot. Bases loaded with Thames at second. Lind, groan grounds to Zobrist at second throw to Kotchman for third out, Jays get three but with bases loaded it could have been much better.

Top 5th: Damon, there she goes, into the crowd in right, Damon’s second home run of the game and Rays get one back quickly. 5-3 Jays. Longoria, ball four and Romero walks another. Zobrist grounds to Johnson throw to Escobar, over to Lind, double play ball. Two down for Kotchman, fly ball to Wise in centre.
Bottom 5th: Encarnacion leading off strikes out. One down for Kelly Johnson, pops it up to right, Joyce dives for the catch but ball gets away from him and Johnson is at third base, he can run, first time we have seen him going flat out. Triple for Kelly. Lawrie, full count and ball four, two on base for Arencibia. Here comes Maddon. That is it for Wade. Gomes now pitching. This will do fine, Arencibia, singles to centre, Johnson scores 6-3 Jays. Lawrie to second. Wise, strikes out.two down for Escobar, there goes Lawrie to third and now Arencibia, delayed double steal. Both runners safe and now in scoring position for Escobar, grounds to Longoria, throw to Kotchman to end the threat but the Jays add another.

Top 6th: Upton leading off, doubles to Thames in left. Romero still having problems but this should be his last inning. Joyce grounds to Escobar throw to Lind, to get Joyce but Upton moves to third. Jaso full count, ball four. Two on and only one down. Rodriguez, perfect, grounds to Lawrie throw to Kelly Johnson upended by tackle of Jaso but gets his throw away to to Lind, and to get Rodriguez. Double play ball, very nice from Johnson to complete that play with Jaso all over him. Romero manages to finish this sixth inning and I doubted that early in this game.
Bottom 6th: Howell now pitching. Thames leading off grounds to Zobrist at second, throw to Kotchman for the out. Bautista, whoa gets all of this one and high bullet to left, hits the brick facing on third deck. Home run number 38. 7-3 Jays. Lind, strikes out. Two down for Encarnacion, singles to left. Kelly Johnson, there goes Encarnacion and safe at second, stolen base Edwin. Full count Kelly Johnson ball four. Lawrie strikes out. Two left on base.

Top 7th: That is it for Romero tonight. He struggled all night long and his pitch count was very high from the first inning. Jesse Litsch pitching. Jennings singles to left. One on for Damon, 3-0 count, ball four, Jennings to second. Here we go again. Two on for Longoria. We all remember that three run home run that Jesse gave up last week. Longoria strikes out. One down for Zobrist, lines it right at Escobar steps on the bag to get Damon for double play ball and Litsch is off the hook.
Bottom 7th: Cruz now pitching. Arencibia pops it up to right Joyce unable to get it and ball bounces away. Great chance here for Wise, strikes out. Not a good night for Dewayne. One down for Escobar, grounds to Rodriguez, great diving save by Rodriguez, and from his knees throw to Kotchman at first. Where is Arencibia ? did not move from third, surely should have come home on that play. That is it for Cruz, McGee now pitching. Thames grounds to Kotchman at first, takes it himself to the bag to end the inning and leave Arencibia at third. Not good at all with that leadoff triple and three poor attempts to bring him in. Jays major weakness.

Top 8th: Casey Janssen now pitching. Kotchman, leading off, grounds back to Janssen. No mistake about this one Casey almost hands the ball to Lind for the first out. Upton pops up to Lawrie, two down for Joyce, fly ball to centre for Wise to make the third out. An easy inning for Janssen. Now can the Jays add on to this lead.
Bottom 8th: Bautista leading off, pops it up to Zobrista at second, one down. Lind strikes out swinging, two down. Encarnacion, full count and takes ball four. That is it for McGee, Ramos now pitching. Kelly Johnson singles to right, Encarnacion moves to second. Lawrie, two on two down, lines to Jennings in left to end the inning.

Top 9th: Francisco now pitching to save this one, a long time since Jays were in that situation. Jaso leading off, grounds to Lind, takes it himself to the bag, one down. Rodriguez bounces to Lawrie, strong throw to Lind for the second out. Jennings, this should do it, grounds to Lawrie and a bullet to Lind for the out.

Jays win 7-3 and avoid ignominious sweep. They also put a dent in Tampa’s faint play-off hopes which feels very good after this weekend series. The Jays could be doing this throughout September to Boston and the Yankees.

The very good: Jays all round much better performance. Maybe Romero was not as sharp as usual which hurt him in the pitch count. Litsch, Janssen, and Francisco held Tampa for the much needed win and some impetus as they head out on the road to Baltimore.
Breakout night for Kelly Johnson who went 3-4, Arencibia also 3-4. But home run power from Lind and Bautista was great to see. Escobar and Thames two hits and Escobar an excellent night on base three times with two hits and a walk.

The not so good: High pitch count by Romero shortened his outing and unable to give this overworked bullpen any rest.
The very bad: RISP tonight Jays went 4/16 with runners in scoring position. That is really bad.