Cooper and McCoy ruin an excellent outing by Romero.

Jays v Rays. Game two of three.

Rays need this one, this is a must win again for them. Boston has already lost big to Yankees this afternoon, they will be watching this one. Jays have Romero tonight but he has to get run support.

Lineups: Jays: McCoy, Thames, Bautista, Johnson, Encarnacion, Rasmus, Cooper, Arencibia, Loewen, and Romero pitching. I like the move with Johnson, he has earned that cleanup position, great to see some who can hit behind Jose. He should now get some better pitches to look at.
Rays: Jennings, Upton, Longoria, Zobrist, Damon, Rodriguez, Kotchman, Joyce, Lobaton, and Niemann pitching.

Top 1st: McCoy, lines it to right, great running catch by Joyce to save at least a double. One down for Thames, 3-1 count, ball four. One on for Bautista, full count, gets hold of this one and lines it to left into the seats, home run number 43 for Jose and Jays go out 2-0. Encarnacion, another full count, ball four, two down one on for Rasmus, 2-0 count. Lines it into right field past the bull pen working, de la Rosa and Torres, how about that for Niemann to see? Double for Rasmus, as Edwin stops at third. Cooper with two in scoring position. 2-2 count, another full count, grounds up the middle to Rodriguez, not what Jays wanted from Cooper, he was the game killer for Niemann if he had singled. But Jays have 2-0 lead. Niemann on 38 pitch count for his first inning. Ouch.
Bottom 1st: Jennings, lines it very hard but right at McCoy for the out, one down for Upton, 3-0 count, come on Ricky, high pop up to first, Cooper drops it, this guy is not doing very well tonight, bat or glove. That is huge error. Full count and loops it into shallow right. One on one down. Longoria there goes Upton and safe on the throw, 2-2 count with runner at second. Strikes out swinging. Two down for Zobrist. Grounds to McCoy throw is wild at first and Upton scores. Zobrist to second. Cooper in the middle of all of this but error to McCoy. 2-1 Jays. Damon pops it up shallow centre and ball drops in front of Rasmus as he pulls up and Johnson does not even go for the ball. Wow what happened there? 2-2 game. Rodriguez, wild pitch and Damon to third. Full count, high fly ball to Rasmus for the out. Put this mess fair and square on Cooper at first. 26 pitch count.

Top 2nd: Jays hitters owe Romero here. Torres now pitching, Maddon not fooling around here this game means something to them. Arencibia leading off. 2-2 count, lines it hard to left centre but Upton runs it down. Loewen, DH tonight, 2-2 count, strikes out looking, two down. McCoy, lines it to Upton in centre.
Bottom 2nd: Kotchman lines first pitch to Thames in left, one down for Joyce, 2-2 count, great strike three, that was a Halladay curve ball strikes out looking, two down. Lobaton bounces back to Romero, throw to Cooper who manages to hold on to it. Ricky doing it himself here. Eight pitch inning. 34 pitch count.

Top 3rd: Thames leading off, fly ball to Jennings in left, one down, Bautista, 2-2 count. Grounds to Rodriguez long throw not in time. Johnson, there goes Jose and Johnson pulls it into right, Jose to third on the hit and run play. This is what we should have been seeing for a long time with someone behind Jose not Edwin. Now Encarnacion with two on. There goes Johnson and throw gets him two down. I think he was just trying to stay out of Edwin’s double plays. Intentional walk now ball four for Edwin. Two on two down. Rasmus, grounds to second, throw to first to get Rasmus. Jays leave two out there.
Bottom 3rd: Jennings, hits him on the leg, one on for Upton, pops it up Arencibia takes it away from Cooper at the wall behind home plate. Not sure why Cooper is over there. One down one on for Longoria, perfect grounds to McCoy throw to Johnson over to Cooper, double play ball to end this inning. Nice play. 40 pitch count. Perfect for Ricky.

Top 4th: Cooper not having a great game tonight. Lines it right at Longoria for the out. Arencibia, lines it over the head of Longoria to Jennings in left but, this is not very smart, out by a mile at second, have to watch the play JP, that was dumb play. Loewen, 2-2 strikes out swinging. Jays sloppy play here continues.
Bottom 4th: Zobrist, gets hold of this one and pulls it into left just over wall into the seats, home run Zobrist and Rays are out ahead 3-2. Damon, 3-1 count, ball four. Ricky rattled here. Rodriguez, grounds to McCoy, long throw to Cooper for the out, great play Mikey. One down for Kotchman, Damon at second. Full count, strikes out swinging, two down. Joyce, grounds back up the middle off the glove of Romero to McCoy throw to Cooper out on the play, Joyce is furious. So is Joe Maddon. 62 pitch count.

Top 5th: Jays need a big inning here to give Ricky some help. McCoy, full count, strikes out looking, one down for Thames. another full count, strikes out swinging, two down for Bautista, 1-2 count, ouch inside and hits him on the leg, payback for hit on Longoria last night ? Johnson, bounces to Zobrist at second, throw to Kotchman at first for the out.
Bottom 5th: Lobaton, lines this past a diving Cooper into right. One on for Jennings, full count, strikes out swinging, one down. Upton, grounds to Encarnacion at third, throw to Johnson over to Cooper no chance to double up Upton. Two down for Longoria, oh Romero has Upton picked off here, throw behind him and out on the tag, Upton goes down, did not like that tag, a little hard BJ ? Pitch count 74.

Top 6th: Let’s have some runs here Encarnacion leading off. Bounces to Zobrist at second throw to first, quick out, Rasmus, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. Two down. Cooper, pops it up to Lobaton.
Bottom 6th: Longoria, grounds to McCoy at short, throw to Cooper, nice play Mikey, one down. Zobrist, grounds to McCoy throw to Cooper, two down. Damon, lines it right back at Romero almost beaned him single to Rasmus in centre. Rodriguez, there goes Damon and safe on the throw, full count. Strikes out swinging. 89 pitch count.

Top 7th: Jays running out of at bats to get it going. Gomes now pitching. Torres five shutout innings, that is called great relief pitching. Arencibia, 0-2 strikes out swinging. One down for Loewen 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. Cooper and Loewen finding that the big leagues are a little different from Vegas. McCoy, 2-2 count, grounds to Longoria, throw to first to get McCoy.
Bottom 7th: Kotchman, ouch hits him on the arm. One on for Joyce, very nice, grounds to Johnson to McCoy over to Cooper double play ball. Like that. Lobaton, grounds to McCoy throw to Cooper for the out. Pitch count 96. Very nice.

Top 8th: Peralta now pitching. Thames leading off. High fly ball to Jennings in left. One down for Bautista, 2-1 count, grounds to Rodriguez, throw to first for the out, two down for Johnson. Pulls it over Kotchman at first to Joyce in right, stays at first, smart move Kelly. Encarnacion, pops up the first two pitches but both foul. Full count, strikes out swinging.
Bottom 8th: Jennings, 2-2 count, grounds to Encarnacion at third, throw to Cooper, one down. Upton, full count, low ball four. One on one down for Longoria. Casey Janssen warming up in bullpen. there goes Upton, throw to Cooper much too slow to throw and Upton safe at second, awful. 2-0 count, grounds to McCoy no, he bobbles it. Romero cannot believe it. Here comes Farrell but Ricky says he wants to stay in. Zobrist, pops it up to shallow right centre, Bautista calls off Rasmus for the out. Both runners hold, two down for Damon, oh boy gets hold of this one, home run into right. 6-2 Rays. That`s it for Ricky, not his fault tonight, he already had three outs, but the defensive plays behind him by Cooper and McCoy were awful. Casey Janssen now pitching. Rodriguez, 1-2 count, lines it to first, finally Cooper contributes with a catch but he is the goat tonight.

Top 9th: Farnsworth closing this one out unless Jays can do something they have not done since the first inning. Rasmus, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. Cooper, wished he had stayed in bed today. 2-2 count, grounds to Longoria, throw to first, two down. Arencibia, full count, strikes out swinging.

Jays lose 6-2 but the story tonight was terrible play by Cooper and McCoy. Cooper with bat and glove. Ruined a great performance by Romero. Jays have one more shot tomorrow with Cecil, let us hope he has more than the three innings he had last outing.

The excellent: Romero despite the loss had a great outing going in to the eighth. Bautista had given them a quick lead but then defensive nightmares ruined this one for the Jays. Two more hits for Johnson, finishing strongly.

The terrible: Cooper failure to get base hit in the first with two in scoring position and knock Niemann out of the game then drops an easy pop up. Then a terrible throw in the 8th. Two bobbled plays by McCoy. Rasmus and Johnson dropped fly ball. Jays sloppy base running by Arencibia and too many poor defensive plays tonight.