Jays power from Lawrie and Bautista rescue Romero tonight

Royals v Jays. Game two of three.

Rasmus out for a few days with that wrist injury from last night. Mastroianni has been recalled from Vegas and will play tonight. Jays bench is awfully weak right now and must be some concern for Alex. In a week the September call-ups will be here but for now a very weak support. Romero pitching tonight but Jays need two major performances (tonight and tomorrow) from their bats to get some respect back here, fans are getting tired of them underperforming against teams they should be sweeping away such as Seattle, Oakland, Houston and Kansas.

Line-ups: Royals: Gordon, Cabrera, Butler, Hosmer, Francouer, Giavotella, Perez, Moustakas, Escobar and Hochevar pitching.
Jays: McCoy, Escobar, Bautista, Lind, Encarnacion, Thames, Lawrie, Arencibia, Mastroianni, and Romero pitching.

Top 1st: Gordon, that’s great, Romero hits him on the first pitch. Cabrera with Gordon at first, bunting, pops it up, Lind maybe had a play if he reacted a little more alertly. 2-2 count. strikes out swinging. Gordon running on the pitch and safe on the throw wide of second, not a good throw at all by Arencibia. Jays are sloppy here early on. Butler, full count, this is trouble, lines it to the wall right centre, here comes Gordon and Royals go out ahead 1-0. Hosmer with runner in scoring position, Grounds to Lind takes it himself, for second out. Francouer with runner at third, grounds to McCoy throw to Lind for the out but Royals are already on the board early and neither Romero or the Jays are very sharp tonight.
Bottom 1st: McCoy, strikes out swinging, McCoy really not a major league calibre player I am surprised he is leading off. Escobar, 0-2 count, grounds to second, throw to first two down for Bautista. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, Jays go quickly and quietly.

Top 2nd: Giavotella, grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind, one down. Perez, singles back up the middle. Moustakas, singles to centre, Romero not fooling many tonight, two on one down for Escobar, that’s better, Romero helps himself here as Escobar grounds right back at him throw to second on to Lind double play to get out of the mess without damage but Romero definitely not pitching to his ability for whatever reason.
Bottom 2nd: Lind leading off, grounds to second, throw to first, one down for Encarnacion. Edwin drives high fly ball to left but out at the wall. Two down for Thames, fly ball to left for third out. Jays bats continue to search for a hit, any hit.

Top 3rd: Gordon, full count, ball four, not good Romero had him at 1-2 count, he is really struggling here tonight, one on for Cabrera, bounces ball to Lawrie on the line, quick throw to Lind to get Cabrera, very nice play Brett. One down as Gordon goes to second. Butler singles to Thames in left, here comes Gordon for his second run tonight and Royals are ahead 2-0. Hosmer, full count, high pop up to Mastroianni in centre for second out. Francouer, wild pitch and runner moves to second, how many times have we seen that this season. 2-2 count. takes strike three but Romero has a hill to climb tonight.
Bottom 3rd: Jays still without even a hit, they have been in the deep slump for almost a week now. Not sure what the answer is. Meantime Hochevar cruising along. Lawrie 1-2 count, grounds to short, throw to first, one down for Arencibia, 3-1 count, ball four, first guy on base but Hochevar wants to get at the rookie Mastroianni, and this is why, first pitch pop up to shallow right, that was wasted at bat two down. McCoy 2-2 count, fly ball to centre for the out. Jays go quietly once again.

Top 4th: Can Romero find his good stuff here. Giavotella, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. One down for Perez, full count, ball four. Romero yet to pitch an inning without putting someone on. Moustakas pops it up, three players Thames, Lawrie and Escobar all converge and Escobar drops the ball. This is yet another awful display by the Jays, it looked as if Lawrie would have made the catch but Escobar called them both off. Two on one down for Escobar, grounds to Escobar steps on second and throw to Lind double play ball. Escobar redeems himself here.
Bottom 4th: Escobar leading off, still a no hitter for Hochevar. Hits him, Escobar does not like that and responds to Hochevar, umpire breaks it up. Escobar thinks it was deliberate. I don’t think so Yunel he is on a no hitter. Bautista. finally, Jose gets hold of this one, no doubt about this, hammers it high into left off the third deck facing, 2-2 game. Bautista nice glare at Hochevar after that hit. As the pitch before had been very close inside on Jose. We have seen that before this season when he is knocked down with a pitch or does not like one close in on him, gets mad. Home run number 37. Lind grounds to second, nice stop and throw to first for the out. One down for Encarnacion, 2-2 count, singles back up the middle. Thames first pitch pop up to Escobar at short. Two down for Lawrie. Full count, hammers this one to the wall, here comes Encarnacion 3-0 Jays and Lawrie all the way to third. Wow, speed. That breaks Lawrie’s 0-10 streak. Arencibia, 2-2 count, lines it to centre, Cabrera robs him of a double, with great running catch but Jays have got to Hochevar.
Top 5th: New game now for Ricky, Gordon leading off. Oh boy, this is trouble lines it to right over the head of Bautista, home run Gordon, and 3-3 game. Cabrera, grounds to McCoy, throw to Lind, one down. Butler first pitch pop up to McCoy behind Lind, two down. Hosmer singles back up the middle, just misses Ricky. Francouer, 3-0 count, same again grounds back up the middle. Two on two down for Giavotella, lines first pitch to McCoy at second for the out.

Bottom 5th: Mastroianni, 0-2 count. strikes out on three pitches, two more than last at bat. McCoy, 2-2 count, takes strike three, two down for Escobar. This should be interesting at bat. Grounds to third, Moustakas bobbles the ball and throw late at first, Escobar safe. Bautista, full count, pops up to Hosmer at first to end the inning.

Top 6th: Perez leading off, pops up to McCoy at second, one down for Moustakas, ball four and another walk from Romero, he is not on his game tonight, Escobar, lines to centre for Mastroianni to make the out, Gordon, 3-1 count, Jess Litsch warming up in bullpen, ball four, walk number four. Moustakas moves up to second. Here comes Bruce Walton, 105 pitch count. Cabrera, grounds to Lawrie steps on the bag to get Moustakas.
Bottom 6th: Lind fly ball to Cabrera in centre, one down. Encarnacion pops up to catcher Perez, two down. Thames strikes out swinging.

Top 7th: Litsch now pitching. Romero will not get the win. Butler leading off drives it to centre Mastroianni dove for the ball but off his glove to the wall, Butler a double. His third hit of the night, doubles to Mastroianni in centre. Hosmer grounds first pitch to Lind, throw to Litsch for the out but Butler goes to third on the play. Francoeur with only one down strikes out looking nice pitching Jesse, one more. Giavotella fly ball to Bautista in right. Nice inning Jesse.

Bottom 7th: Louis Coleman now pitching. Lawrie leading off. 2-2 count, there she goes, a cannon into left field seats, another home run for Lawrie. 4-3 game. Arencibia, grounds to third, throw to first and off his glove, error to Moustakas. Arencibia safe at first on Moustakas' error. Mastroianni with one on, bunting and gets it down as Arencibia to second on the sacrifice. McCoy, grounds to third and bounces off his glove, another error to Moustakas, wow, two in an inning. McCoy safe at first on Moustakas' error. Escobar now with two on and only one down. 2-2 count. Oh no, grounds to Alcides Escobar, nice diving stop and flip to Giavotella at second throw to Hosmer, double play ball to end this rally.

Top 8th: Casey Janssen now in for the 8th, this is the role that Manager Farrell wants Casey to fill. Perez leading off, 0-2 count, strikes out looking. One down for Moustakas, fly ball to Bautista in right, two down. Escobar full count, ball four. One on two down for the ever dangerous Gordon, not this time as he pops up to Escobar to end the inning. Nice pitching Casey.
Bottom 8th: Blake Wood now pitching, Bautista leading off, full count, lines to right for the out. Lind, pops it up to Perez behind the plate, two down for Encarnacion. 2-0 count, grounds to third, throw to first to end the inning.

Top 9th: Francisco now pitching to try to save this one. Cabrera leading off. Full count, ball four, oh boy. Here we go. Butler, with one on. Lines out to Escobar at short, I think that is the first hit Butler has not had outside the infield in two days. One down one on for Hosmer, there goes Cabrera, and safe at second, Hosmer strikes out, two down. Francouer with runner in scoring position, lines it to right, Bautista runs it down for third out and Jays win 4-3.

Jays win and it is a W in the column but not a pretty win and truly Jays are making the Royals look like Boston out there in the first two games. Kansas outhit them tonight but were 3/14 with runners in scoring position and that tells it all as Jays fans can testify. The Jays should not be having so much trouble with them if they reckon to be a better team. I hope that tomorrow they can have an emphatic win.

The excellent signs: Lawrie and Bautista providing all the sparks tonight. Lawrie with a triple and a game winning home run had a great game and Bautista with the two run home run as well as the final out which was by no means easy and could have been the tying run, Lawrie just continues to impress. Manger Farrell in an interview today was talking about how Lawrie had adjusted to the pitchers pitching him inside after pitching him away when he first arrived in the big leagues. If he can continue that play tonight it will make it even more difficult for the pitchers to adjust and will make Lawrie a very good at bat. I like the energy he brings to every at bat and in the field which makes Encarnacion and Lind look so pedestrian and stolid, which they both are but Lawrie magnifies that laid back slowness with his energised play at all times.

The good: Have to put Romero in this category tonight as he was definitely not his usual dominance. But to be fair to him he has been so dominant over his last five games that we have taken that to be his norm every outing and that is not fair on him. With a few more runs support it would not matter if he were not perfect but with few runs he has little margin of error.
Add in Litsch, Janssen and Francisco here who kept the Royals scoreless.

The not so good: Where are Lind, Encarnacion, and Arencibia ? They have to step up their game now that the rookies are filling in the gaps, they have to pick up Mastroianni, Thames and McCoy.