Jays v A’s. Final game of series.
Jays have to win to salvage something for this poor road trip, already lost three of six against the two bottom teams of the western division and also the AL. Right now in the last two games they have played poor baseball, undisciplined hitting and swinging. I think what the last two games have also shown is how poor the bench depth is. Teahen, McCoy, Molina and McDonald are hardly all-stars with the bat. This team can ill afford both Bautista and Lind sitting injured. Today Bautista is back but Lind day to day which means Tuesday.
Line-ups: Toronto: Hill leading off, back in the line-up and leading off because Escobar has the day off ? I don’t get it, they have an off-day tomorrow, however Escobar has not been hitting well recently but then who has? Who knows leadoff might even help Hill although I doubt it. Thames, Bautista, Encarnacion, Rasmus, Lawrie, Teahen DH today, Arencibia, McDonald and Perez pitching, his first major league start. Not a great line-up but it will have to do today,
Oakland: Weeks, Crisp, Matsui, Willingham, Allen, Jackson, Pennington, Suzuki, Sizemore and Moscoso pitching.
Top 1st: Hill leading off. Surprise surprise, Aaron, singles into centre, Maybe just maybe. Thames, pops up to left one down. Hill stays where he is. Bautista back in line-up from the neck injury. One on one down. Full count, there goes Hill but pick off and Moscoso throw gets him, two down. Way high ball four, good at bat by Jose, too bad that Hill is not still out there. Encarnacion, strikes out swinging. Pitch count 20.
Bottom 1st: Perez pitching for his first start, Weeks, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down for Crisp, grounds to McDonald playing short, throw to first, two down. Matsui grounds back to McDonald, throw to Encarnacion for third out. Nice start for Perez. Pitch count 13.
Top 2nd: Rasmus, strikes out looking. One down for Lawrie. 2-2 count, Fly ball to centre, two down for Teahen who is DH today. takes strike three looking. Teahen not exactly impressing so far since his signing. 32 pitch count.
Bottom 2nd: Willingham, pops up first pitch to Bautista shallow right centre. Allen, high pop up to Encarnacion running in from first. Two down Jackson, grounds to Encarnacion at first, six pitch inning, wow.
Top 3rd: Arencibia, strikes out swinging, lots of those with the Jays today. McDonald, pops it up to shallow right, Weeks makes the catch, two down for Hill, Fly ball to right, Jays go meekly and quickly. 44 pitch count.
Bottom 3rd: Pennington, bounces one to Hill at second, throw to Encarnacion one down. Suzuki, 2-2 count, pops it up to Encarnacin at first. Sizemore, strikes out swinging. Nine up and down for Perez. 33 pitches. That is IMPRESSIVE pitching.
Top 4th: Thames, lines a bullet to second but right at Weeks, One down for Bautista, high pop up but Allen makes the catch. Two down for Encarnacion, pops it up to second. 60 pitch count.
Bottom 4th: Weeks, lines first pitch to shallow right, nice running sliding catch by Bautista. One down for Crisp, full count, grounds to Lawrie, throw to Encarnacion for the out. Two down for Matsui, full count, strikes out swinging. Very nice Luis. Pitch count 48.
Top 5th: Rasmus, leading off. Jays have scored one run in the last 22 innings. Ouch, that is not awesome at all. 2-2 count, strikes out looking but that was low. Suzuki raises the glove. Lawrie pops it up to third, first pitch swinging getting a little frustrated there Brett. Two down. Teahen, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging for third out. 23 innings and wanting for this Jays hit machine. Not good at all, Moscoso pitch count 71.
Bottom 5th: Willingham, grounds to McDonald at short, throw to Encarnacion, one down. Allen, lines it to right, great running catch by Bautista. Stretching full out. Two down for Jackson. Full count, strikes out looking, Jackson does not agree but sorry Connor you are not going to get those calls the way Perez is pitching.
Top 6th: Arencibia, lines this one to centre, OH !!! Crisp drops the ball at the wall and JP into second, now can they capitalise. McDonald, pops it up to right, and no chance for Arencibia to move up. Top of the line-up Hill one down, Arencibia in scoring position. 3-1 count, oh boy grounds to short, long throw to Allen at first and Arencibia still stuck at second. Not very good hitting here by the Jays. Thames, goes after high fast ball 0-2 pops up to Suzuki, three of them could not advance Arencibia 90 feet and that my friends is the major problem with this current group of players. Awful and the streak now extends 14 innings for one run.
Bottom 6th: Pennington leading off, 3-1 count, ball four, first Oakland player to reach base, oh dear, way to go Luis. Great pitching for five at least. Suzuki, bunting, foul, Casey Janssen now warming up. Perez had a pitch limit today. Suzuki bunting, Arencibia great throw to second gets Pennington. Johnny Mc. throw to first not in time that would have been some double play. One down for Sizemore, full count, outside ball four, two on one down. Weeks, singles up the middle bases loaded. Farrell leaving him out there, whoa, that is called having confidence in your pitcher. Crisp. Whoa, perfection, grounds to McDonald, throw to Hill, over to Encarnacion double play ball, whoa.... Perez keeps his score sheet intact. BUT Jays have to score something. 80 pitches. Very nice outing.
Top 7th: Bautista leading off. Full count, hanging tough here fouling them off. Four in a row here, pitch number ten and gets hold of this one and, this one is way out of here into to left field seats, home run Jose, whoa, yes Jose, and keeps Perez in the line for a win, 1-0 Jays. Encarnacion, 0-2 count, grounds to short, throw to first one down, for Rasmus, 0-2 count pops it up to third, two down for Lawrie, fly ball to centre for third out. But Jays have one, will it be enough?
Bottom 7th: Casey Janssen now pitching. Matsui, 1-2 count, strikes out looking, one down for Willingham, 3-1 count, fly ball to Thames in left, two down for Allen, full count, inside ball four. Jackson, one on two down, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging and Casey keeps the hopes alive for Perez here.
Top 8th: Can Jays hitters get some more run support here? Teahen 0-2 today, pops it up to Crisp in centre. One down for Arencibia, Moscoso now on 103 pitches. Very high pop up to Sizemore at third, two down for McDonald, strikes out looking for third out. Jays are really having problems scoring runs in Oakland.
Bottom 8th: Janssen still out there. Pennington leading off, full count, strike three looking. He does not like that call nor does his dugout but not changing the umpire. One down for Suzuki 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down. Ryan Sweeney pinch hitting for Sizemore. 2-2 count, grounds to first, Encarnacion takes it to the bag himself for third out, Nice pitching Casey.
Top 9th: That’s is it for Moscoso, Fautino De Los Santos pitching. Hill leading off. Grounds back up the middle, Weeks great play to get Hill at first. Farrell out there but does not change the call, one down for Thames. Bounces one to Allen takes it himself to the bag. Two down for Bautista. High fly ball to centre Crisp loses it in the sun and it drops behind him, Jose motors all the way to third, triple for Jose. Encarnacion bring him in Edwin. Swings at pitch three feet outside the plate. 2-2 count, lines it hard down first base line, great play by Allen diving to save the hit and throw to Los Santos at first for the out and end of this inning leaving Jose at third.
Bottom 9th: This is interesting, here comes Janssen to start the 9th. He has already pitched two innings and this is a save situation. Audition Casey for closer ? No it looks as if Francisco is not well out there in the bullpen. Top of the order Weeks, full count, strikes out swinging, number five for Casey career high ! 41 pitch count. Crisp, one down, 0-2 count, lines it right at Lawrie, great catch Brett, two down. Matsui, 2-2 count, grounds to left, great play by Lawrie as he comes across in front of McDonald, and throw to Encarnacion for the out and Jays win this one, 1-0, tie the series with Oakland and go home 4-3 on the road trip. Could have and should have been better road trip, but at least there is momentum for Tuesday series.
The excellent: Very definitely Luis Perez in his first start, pitches brilliantly for the win. 80 pitches for six innings and a no hitter until the sixth. Casey Janssen relief for three shutout innings and last but not least, Jose the master, yet another game winning home run after a long ten pitch at bat and also after day off yesterday with stiff neck. Home run number 36 to retake the major league lead after Granderson had tied him earlier with an in the park home run in Minnesota.
The not so good: Lack of hits one again. Two runs in 27 innings is not good and they are lucky to escape with a win from that.
Now for home cooking and almost certainly large crowd to see the team on Tuesday.
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