Great outing by Cecil but bats go silent in loss to Orioles

Orioles v Jays. Game one of three.

Jays on a two win streak, and three of four against Boston. Can they make hay this weekend against the Orioles? This is by no means an easy series despite the cellar position of the Orioles. Baltimore has just take two from the Yankees and are always a threat. It would be major error for the Jays to take them lightly. Tonight Cecil pitching and another reason to be cautious about the result. Cecil as with Morrow has underperformed this season and needs a good win to show most fans that he belongs in the rotation.

Line-ups: Orioles: Andino, Hardy, Markakis, Guerrero, Jones, Wieters, Reynolds, Reimold, Adams and Guthrie pitching.
Jays: Escobar, Thames, Bautista, Encarnacion, Lind, Lawrie, Johnson, Arencibia, McCoy and Cecil pitching. Lawrie moving up the line-up. Soon he will be hitting behind Bautista which will be fine with me.

Top 1st: Andino leading off, strikes out on three pitches, Nice start. Hardy, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down for Markakis. Lines to Thames in left. Guerrero, singles to Bautista in right. Two on two down for Jones. Grounds to Escobar, throw to Johnson for third out. Pitch count 18.
Bottom 1st: Escobar leading off. Bounces to Hardy at short, throw to Reynolds at first. Thames, one down, 3-1 count, ball four. One on one down for Bautista. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down for Encarnacion, Encarnacion fly ball to Reimold in left. Pitch count 16.

Top 2nd: Wieters leading off, strikes out swinging on three pitches, Reynolds, one down, 1-2 count, lines it to third, right at Lawrie, nice catch Brett, two down for Reimold. 2-2 count, strikes out. Pitch count 30.
Bottom 2nd: Lind leading off, full count, drives it into left field corner, stand up double for Adam. One on for Lawrie. Bunting, great bunt and throw just and only just gets him. Good bunt but Lawrie is a hitter, was it a good decision? I don’t think so. Lind to third. One down for Johnson. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down. Arencibia, grounds to third, throw to first and Jays unable to bring in Lind from second in three tries. Lawrie may regret that bunt decision. He should. Pitch count 32.

Top 3rd: Adams leading off. Strikes out swinging. One down back to top of the order Andino. 3-1, high ball four. One on one down for Hardy. Grounds to Escobar, takes it to the bag at second, throw to Lind double play ball. Very nice. 41 pitch count.
Bottom 3rd: McCoy, 0-2 count, grounds to Andino at third, throw to Reynolds at first, one down. Escobar, 2-2 count, grounds to Adams at second, throw to Reynolds, two down. Thames, grounds to Adams throw to Reynolds. Three up and down for Guthrie. Pitch count 43.

Top 4th: Markakis, lines to Thames in left for a single. Guerrero with one on, high, very high fly ball to McCoy in centre, one down one on for Jones. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down one on for Wieters. 2-0 count, high pop up to Thames. Pitch count 53.
Bottom 4th: Bautista leading off. 2-2 count, lines back up the middle. One on for Encarnacion. Oh boy Edwin, first pitch !!! grounds to short, throw to second over to Reynolds, double play. First pitch Edwin ?. You have to give Jose time there. Put some pressure on Guthrie. Lind with two down. 1-2 high fly ball to Reimold at the wall in left for third out. Pitch count 54.

Top 5th: Reynolds, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. Number seven for Cecil. Season high. Reimold, grounds to Johnson, throw to Lind, two down. Adams, grounds to Lawrie, throw to Lind. Three up and down. Pitch count 62. Just over the hour, this game is humming along. Time for Jays hitters to slow it down with a few runs. Boston specifically Lackey, getting hammered by Tampa 5-0.
Bottom 5th: Lawrie, grounds to Andino, throw to Reynolds one down. Johnson, high fly ball to Jones in centre field. Arencibia, 2-0 count. Pops it up to Andino for third out. Pitch count 66.

Top 6th: Andino, 1-2 count, singles to Thames in left. Hardy grounds to Escobar, flip to Johnson, high throw by Johnson goes to the wall. Hardy goes to second. Error to Johnson. Should have been double play. One down for Markakis. Pops it up to McCoy two down. Guerrero, full count, 80p lines it into left, here comes Hardy to score, 1-0 Baltimore, blame that one on Johnson error, Cecil should have been out of this inning. Jones, fly ball to Thames in left to end the inning. 83 pitch count.
Bottom 6th: McCoy leading off. Full count, high ball four. One on for Escobar, 0-2 count, oh boy, grounds back to Guthrie throw to second on to Reynolds at first, double play ball. Two down for Thames. 2-2 count, drives this one high to centre, Jones makes nice running catch at the wall. Pitch count 81.

Top 7th: Maybe last inning for Cecil, victimised by the defence behind him tonight. Wieters, high fly ball to centre for McCoy to make the catch. One down for Reynolds. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging, number eight for Cecil and a season high. Two down for Reimold, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. 92 pitch count. Cecil should start another inning.
Bottom 7th: Bautista leading off, we need your leadership here Jose. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. One down for Encarnacion. He owes the team one tonight. 0-2, two down, strikes out on three pitches. Lind, pulls it into right. Lawrie, he also owes the team tonight. Full count, ball four outside. Two on for Johnson, he owes the team bigtime for that error which lead to the run. Full count, strikes out swinging. 103 pitches.

Top 8th: Adams leading off. Singles first pitch to McCoy in centre. Andino bunts to Arencibia and throw to Lind for the out as Adams to second. Hardy, 0-2 count, this is trouble loop singles into shallow right. Two on for Markakis. Adams at third. 0-2 count, grounds to Johnson to Escobar to Lind not in time and Adams scores 2-0 Orioles. That is it for Cecil, too bad as he pitched very well tonight and deserved better. Camp now pitching. Guerrero with two down. Markakis stealing and safe on the throw. 0-2 count, high fly ball to McCoy in centre for third out.
Bottom 8th: Pedro Strop now pitching. Bell at third, Andino at short for Adams. Arencibia leading off. Lines to Bell at third, one down for Teahen pinch hitting for McCoy. 2-2 count, bounces to second throw wild at the bag and Teahen safe at first. Wise pinch runner for Teahen. Escobar, there goes Wise and safe on the throw at second, full count. Ball four outside. Two on for Thames. Oh boy, grounds to second, throw to the bag and over to first for yet another double play.

Top 9th: Drabek now pitching, good luck. Jones leading off, grounds to Johnson throw to Lind, one down. Wieters, grounds to Lind, takes it himself, two down. Reynolds, 2-0 count, grounds to Johnson, throw to Lind for third out. Good inning for Drabek.
Bottom 9th: Last chances for the Jays, the heart of the order. Jim Johnson pitching. Bautista leading off. Full count, ball four. David Cooper pinch hitting for Encarnacion. Fine with me. Tapper in front of the mound, throw to first to get Cooper as Bautista to second. Lind, grounds to Reynolds at first, takes it himself to get Lind. Two down for Lawrie. Jose at third. 1-1 count, not this time, grounds to third throw to first to get Lawrie. Pesky Orioles shut the Jays out tonight.

The very good: Definitely Cecil who deserved much better as he pitched well enough to win this thing.
The good: Drabek one scoreless inning, good start at least.
The not so good: Lawrie bunting in the second inning with Jose at second. Encarnacion, first pitch double play in the 4th with Jose at first. Johnson error that lead directly to the first run.
The terrible: RISP. Jays once again awful 0-6 tonight with runners in scoring position.
The question: Where are the bats?