Another blown save by bullpen and Lawrie ruins key situation

Orioles v Jays Game two of three.

Last night tough loss by bullpen, Jays will be in big trouble against East teams if they have trouble with the Orioles this season. Morrow did not help himself either, he struggled throughout even if he did go seven innings he was very lucky the home runs were single runs. Still of concern Jose struggling early as well as Lind but on the plus side the newbies Rasmus and Johnson are both showing why Alex signed them. Rasmus appears to be much more settled and his bat and glove have been good the first week at least. Concerns also with Thames in left, he is struggling adjusting to that corner, and last but not least Escobar and his attitude. Hopefully someone pulled him up on it last night, we shall see. His abilities are not in question but he does hotdog it. Today great pitching matchup Jason Hammel for the Orioles against Hendreson Alvarez for the Jays.
How come Ellsbury is injured after he leaves Toronto series? Yankees losing big in LA today, Vernon is giving them a hard time.

Lineups: Orioles: Reimold, Hardy, Markakis, Jones, Wieters, Betemit, Reynolds, Davis, Andino and Hammel pitching.
Jays: Escobar, Johnson, Bautista, Lind, Encarnacion, Thames,Lawrie, Rasmus, Arencibia and Alvarez pitching.

Top 1st: Reimold, bounces to Escobar, nice play by Yunel throw to Lind for the out. Hardy, singles to Thames in left, one on one down for Markakis, 3-0 count, ball four, two on for Jones. 2-2 count, inside hits him on the thigh. Bases loaded. I don’t think that was payback for last night. Wieters, needs a ground ball, gets it to Escobar, to Johnson and Kelly is taken out by Jones no chance for two as run scores. 1-0 Orioles. Johnson went the wrong way into the takeout, if he had gone to the first base side of the bag he would have been ok. Farrelll out to argue but not too much. Betemit with two on and two down. Grounds to Lind takes it himself for third out. Too many pitches for Alvarez at 23.
Bottom 1st: Escobar, 3-0 count, takes strike one. Lines it to right but Markakis makes the catch for the out. Johnson, 2-2 count, gets hold of this one and into the seats in left, déjà vu last night. 1-1 game. Bautista, with one down full count, singles over Hardy at short into left, Jose will take that. Lind, full count, strikes out swinging, two down for Encarnacion. Pops it up to Markakis in shallow right, Hammel also with high pitch count at 27.

Top 2nd: Henderson needs a short inning here. Reynolds, strikes out swinging. Davis, 2-2 count, pulls it to Lind takes it himself to the bag, two down for Andino, quickly 0-2, bounces one to Lawrie at third, throw to Lind low but good for the out. Much better inning for Alvarez he gets his shorter inning. Pitch count at 37.
Bottom 2nd: Thames lines first pitch to left centre, nice play by Jones to prevent it going all the way to the wall but Thames has a leadoff double. Lawrie now to bring him in. Full count, singles back up the middle, Thames holds at third, two on and nobody out for Rasmus. Perfect lines it the other way into left for Thames to score easily. 2-1 Jays. Lawrie moves up to second, Arencibia with two on and nobody out. 2-2 count, groiunds to short, over to second but Rasmus takes out Andino, payback time. No double play there. One down for Escobar with Lawrie at third. Full count, Lawrie takes third. Ball four bases loaded. Johnson, home run last at bat. Pitch number 50 for Hammel 1 1/3 innings. 2-0 count. Outside 3-1, bullpen working. Full count. Takes strike three. Two down for Bautista, bases still loaded. 0-2 count, here comes Lawrie from third ??, out at the plate. Hmm. Not sure about that with Jose hitting and bases loaded ??? I don’t think that was Farrell’s call. Thinking about it that was an insane play by Lawrie. No justification at all. 58 pitches.

Top 3rd: Reimold drives it to left and to the wall stand up double on first pitch. Hardy, up and in and hits him on the shoulder. Two on this game is unravelling. Two on and nobody out. Markakis. Lines it to Thames in left for the first out. Jones, fly ball to Rasmus playing shallow centre, two down. Wieters, grounds to Escobar at shirt throw to Lind and out of the inning leaving first two hitters on. Very nice pitching by Alvarez to extricate himself from that mess. 50 pitch count.
Bottom 3rd: Bautista leading off, I wonder what he thought about that Lawrie move. 2-2 count, pops it up to Markakis in right, one down. Lind, 2-2 count, grounds back to the pitcher throw to first, two down for Encarnacion. High pop up to first. Pitch count 72.

Top 4th: Betemit, strikes out swinging. One down for Reynolds, 3-0 count, singles into left, one on for Davis, there she goes pulls this one high into right field seats. Two run home run just like that Orioles go out ahead 3-2. Andino back up the middle of glove of Alvarez to Johnson to make the throw at first for the second out. Reimold first pitch lines it to Rasmus for thiurd out. 63 pitch count.
Bottom 4th: Thames grounds to second, throw to first for the out. One down for Lawrie. Needs to redeem himself, bounces one to third and safe without a throw. Rasmus, strikes out swinging, two down for Arencibia. There goes Lawrie, throw in time and out at second to end the inning. Not his day today.

Top 5th: Hardy lines this to center, oh yes, another highlight reel catch by Rasmus in centres diving for that ball. One down, Markakis grounds back to Alvarez, throw to Lind two down. Jones, 2-2 count, singles to Thames in left. One on two down for Wieters, grounds first pitch back to lvarez, underhand lob to Lind for the out. Pitch count at 75.
Bottom 5th: Arencibia leading off. Grounds back to Hammel, throw to first for the out. One down for Escobar. Pops it up to Markakis in shallow right, two down for Johnson. Full count, bounces it to first for the out. Pitch count 97 and no thanks to Lawrie that he is still out there pitching.

Top 6th: Betemit lines to Thames in left one down for Reynolds, nice backpedalling cxatch by Thames at the wall, same play two down. Davis, lines to left, this time in play. One on two down for Andino. High pop up to Lawrie in foul ground by the wall for the out. Pitch count 84.
Bottom 6th: Lindstrom now pitching. Hammel out but should have been much earlier as Jays had him on the ropes in the third inning. Bautista Grounds to short, throw to first, one down for Lind. Drives it to the wall in right centre for stand up double. Encarnacion with runner in scoring position and one down. Grounds it through into left, Lind can hardly make it to third, that should have been a run, come on John get a pinch runner out there for Lind. Two on for Thames, does his jo lifts it into centre, here comes Lind. 3-3 game. Encarnacion to second on the play. Laawrie another chace to redeem hismeslf. 3-1 count, bll four, two on and Lawrie unable to steal with Edwin at second.Rasmus, two down two on. Does the job singles into centre, here comes Edwin and Lawrie all the way to third. 4-3 Jays. Arencibia, 2-2 count, Colby doing wind sprints out there. This time takes second without a throw. Full count, strikes out swinging but Jays have retaken the lead.

Top 7th: Reimold, pops it up to shallow right for Bautista, one down. Hardy, fly ball to Rasmus in centre, two down. Markakis, 2-2 Alvarez though that was strike three. No problem, bounces next pitch to Escobar, throw to Lind for third out. Three up and down, nice inning for Alvarez. Probably his last.
Bottom 7th: Sidearmer O’Day pitching. Escobar, lines it to right, great running catch by Markakis, one down. Johnson, grounds first pitch to second, throw to first, two quick outs. Bautista grounds it to first, great diving stop by Davis, throw to O’Day from his knees to just get Jose. Nice play.

Top 8th: Janssen now pitching. Rajai Davis in left for Thames. Jones leading off Pulls it hard to Lawrie at third, throw to Lind to get Jones. Wieters, lines it right, a great save by Johnson and throw to the bag to Lind but Casey is also over there on his back. Two down for Betemit, 2-2 count, Casey thought that was strike three. Full count, oh NO !!! Betemit extends his arms full on this to drive it over the wall in right. Home run. 4-4 game. Reynolds, another full count. Pops it foul to first but Lind makes the catch.
Bottom 8th: This bullpen breakdown is becoming an annoying habit. Lind leading off. Luis Ayala now pitching. 3-0 count, full count, strikes out swinging, one down for Encarnacion, singles back up the middle, one on one down for Rajai Davis. Rajai hanging tough here, fouling them off, way inside and Rajai jumps out of the way, come on guy take one for the team. Full count. Fly ball to Jones in centre for the out. Two down for Lawrie. Last chance to make amends today. Full count. Drives to Hardy at short, throw to first for the final out.

Top 9th. Cordero now pitching. Ouch, Flaherty lines it off the leg of Corder, and safe at first as Cordero recovers ball halfway to third. Andino, bunting, strike three great pitch, Reimold, there goes Flaherty and there goes the ball a mammoth home run to left, inside the foul pole third deck 6-4 Orioles. Déjà vu last night. Hardy with one down. Full count. Strikes out swinging. Two down. Markakis, grounds back to Cordero throw to Lind for third out, but major damage done here and I do not see this team coming back from yet another blown game by the bullpen. Ruining a great outing by Alvarez.
Bottom 9th: Rasmus leading off. Johnson pitching to close this one out. 2-2 count, lines it hard at first, and beats out throw as Johnson covering the bag drops the ball. Arencibia, full count, oh boy, grounds to short on to second over to first, double play ball. Escobar, grounds to second, throw to first to end this very dissppoitnign game.

Lawrie huge error comes back to haunt the Jays at the end. He has a lot of apologies tonight. Meantime Jays have to regroup behind Drabek tomorrow to avoid a humiliating sweep by the Orioles at home. Who gets the day off ? Escobar and maybe Vizquel gets his first game in Toronto.

The very good: Johnson and Rasmus show no with bat and glove. Amazing plays in the field and key hits by both, polus the stolen base for Colby.

The not so good: Janssen and Cordero blowing the game with two home runs.
The worst: Brett are you playing for the team or yourself? even if he had scored it is only one run and Orioles would have walked Jose effectively taking the bat out of his hands. That was not just a rookie mistake it was a very bad play and judgement call. Worse still he is caught stealing the very next at bat and again ends an inning with runners on. He has a lot of redemption and learning to do.