Drabek wins one behind power and speed of the Jays

Jays v Red Sox Game two of three.

Lots of questions tonight. Starting with the closer Santos, two blown saves in three games is not what the Jays brought him to Toronto for. However the upside is that they have plenty of alternatives including Cordero, Janssen and even Frasor. Bautista not his usual self with the bat at least. Left field still a question mark in my mind. Thames has not done much in the first four games. The biggest question mark though tonight will be Drabek. Is he a different pitcher from last year’s model and is his mental toughness there, tough baptism outing for him against the Red Sox. On the other hand it could be huge confidence builder.

Lineups: Red Sox: Ellsbury, Pedroia, Gonzalez, Ortiz, Youkilis, Sweeney, Ross, Saltalamacchia, Punto and Daniel Bard pitching.
Jays: Escobar, Johnson, Bautista, Lind, Encarnacion, Lawrie, Thames, Arencibia, Rasmus and Drabek pitching.
Top 1st: Ellsbury, grounds to Lawrie at third throw to Lind, one down. Pedroia, strike three looking, froze him, great pitch. Gonzalez, first pitch pop up to Johnson at second great start for Kyle. 8 pitches.
Bottom 1st: Escobar, singles first pitch into left. Johnson, pops up to Punto at short, one down, Bautista having a miserable start 0-4 last night. Fly ball to right, two down. Lind singles the other way into left, Escobar to third, two on for Encarnacion. Grounds to Punto, bobbles the ball and here comes Escobar, 1-0 Jays. Lawrie, There goes Edwin, safe at second no throw. Lawrie Strikes out swinging on three pitches to leave two out there but Jays strike first. Pitch count 20.

Top 2nd: Ortiz, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. Youkilis, one down, drives it over the head of Bautista in right to the wall, stand-up double as Bautista throw is off target. Sweeney, 3-1 count, ball four, come on Kyle. Ross with two on. 2-0 Drabek losing it here. Arencibia out there to calm him down. 3-0 count, full count, strikes out swinging at ball four, two down. Saltalamacchia, 2-2 takes strike three on a generous strike zone. Drabek escapes the bullet there but pitch count suffered. 27 pitch inning.
Bottom 2nd: Thames leading off grounds to Punto at short, no problem for him this time throw to first one down for Arencibia. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. Two down for Rasmus grounds first pitch to Gonzalez at first to end the inning. 10 pitch inning for Bard.

Top 3rd: Punto, full count, pops it up to shallow centre for Rasmus, one down. Top of the order again, Ellsbury. Grounds to Johnson, throw to Lind at first, two down for Pedroia. Grounds first pitch to Escobar throw to Lind for a one two three inning. 47 pitch count.
Bottom 3rd: Top of Jays order. Escobar, 2-2 count, lifts it over the head of Pedroia at second into shallow centre. Yunel 2-2 tonight. Johnson, singles to right, two on and nobody out for Bautista. Perfect time for Jose to get it going here. 3-0 count, Bard not giving him anything to hit. Jose escapes with this pop up behind the plate, full count. Jose thought it low. Strikes out swinging and continues his slump. He has left 10 hitters on base in the last 5 at bats. Lind with two on, that’s better as Lind drives it up the middle, here comes Escobar to score second run. Johnson stays at second. 2-0 Jays. Encarnacion with two on. Thomas working in RedSox bullpen. Edwin lifts it into shallow centre for the second out. Lawrie, with two on. Struck out on three pitches last time up. Singles into right, here comes Johnson and beats the throw 3-0 Jays. Thames with two on, Edwin at second. 1-2 count waves weakly at strike three, that was a terrible at bat Eric. Jays hitters get to Bard but they need a lot more to beat this Boston team. 57 pitches.

Top 4th: Drabek has had a long rest here. Gonzalez leading off. Shift on, lines it up the middle to Lawrie playing deep almost shallow centre, but makes strong throw to Lind to get him, great play Brett. Ortiz, shift still on but Lawrie in right now, full count, fly ball to left but Thames makes the catch, two down. Youkilis, grounds to Escobar at short, throw to Lind to end the inning. Much better for Drabek. 10 pitch inning. 57 pitch count.
Bottom 4th: Arencibia, grounds to Youkilis at third, throw to Lind for the first out. Rasmus, gets hold of this one to left but dies on the track for a long out. Two down for Escobar, strikes out looking on three pitches, not a good at bat by Yunel. Nine pitch inning for Bard. 66 pitch count.

Top 5th: Sweeney, full count, grounds to Johnson, throws him out at first, one down. Ross, doubles to the wall in left. That looked catchable by Thames. One on one down for Saltalamacchia drives first pitch to right but Bautista makes the catch, Ross holds at second, two down for Punto. Pops it up to Escobar at short leaving Ross out at second. Drabek 73 pitch count through five.
Bottom 5th: Johnson leading off. 2-2 count. Lines it to second great diving catch by Pedroia to rob Johnson of a hit. One down for Bautista, full count, but that was one weird strike by umpire as Jose jumps out of the way. Strikes out swinging, Not a happy Jose right now especially with homeplate umpire strike zone. Lind, 1-2 grounds to Punto throw to Gonzalez at first to end the inning. 84 pitch count. Manger Valentine will be very happy with this outing by Bard.

Top 6th: Ellsbury leading off. Full count, outside ball four. Pedroia, here we go, lines it to the wall in left, just misses going out, great bounce to Rasmus who returns it and holds Ellsbury at third. But two in scoring position for Gonzalez. Drabek in big trouble here. Frasor working in bullpen. Lines it to Bautista in right, Ellsbury scores, return throw hits Pedroia in the back or he would have been out at third. 3-1 Jays. Ortiz with Pedroia at third. 3-0 count, this could be the end for Drabek here. Ball four. Here comes the manager. 91 pitches for Drabek, shaky but scraped through the first five. Fraser now pitching but with runners on the corners and only one out. Badly needs a ground ball here especially with Ortiz at first. Youkilis, 2-2 count. Perfect just what the doctor ordered grounds to Escobar flip to Johnson over to Lind for the double play. Jays escape bigtime. Drabek very grateful.
Bottom 6th: Can Jays hitters get that run back now? Encarnacion leading off. Full count. Outside ball four. Runner on for Lawrie. Edwin running and throw down not in time. Not sure he should be looking back at catcher like that though, head down and run Edwin. Lawrie with runner in scoring position. 2-2 count, oh wow, bounces to short, and head down Lawrie beats out the throw to first. Edwin to third. The ball was an infield hit. That is hustle 100%. Speed kills on this team in 2012. End of the road for Bard now. 97 pitches. Justin Thomas now pitching. Thames needs to bring one in here. There goes Lawrie, safe without a throw and he did not look back Edwin. Full count. Outside ball four. Bases loaded for Arencibia, time for a big one JP. 2-0 count, Thomas has lost the zone here. 3-1 count. Drives it into shallow centre, here comes Edwin followed by Lawrie, 5-1 Jays. Thames all the way to third, JP at first, still nobody out. Rasmus, this will do it, sac fly to left, to the track, here comes Thames 6-1 Jays. One down. Top of the order Escobar. 2-2 count. Bounces to short, throw to first to get Escobar. Two down for Johnson. Pulls first pitch to Gonzalez at first and takes it himself to the bag to end the inning but Jays have added three big runs here.

Top 7th: Can bullpen hold them here? No lead is safe enough playing Boston. Frasor still out there. Sweeney leading off lines it to left, leadoff double for Sweeney. Thames completely misplays it and over his head, that is the second misplay by Thames tonight in left, not doing a good job of nailing down left field. Ross 2-2, takes strike three. One down, Saltalamacchia, full count, low ball four. Two on one down for Punto, 2-2 count, fly ball to Thames, makes the catch this time. Two down. Here comes Manager Farrell, Luis Perez now pitching to top of the order Ellsbury. Two on two down. Oh boy lifts it into shallow centre, Escobar running backward makes the catch in front of Rasmus who had a much better read on it. That was close and could have been a disaster. Bottom line Jays get out of trouble.
Bottom 7th: Batista leading off, another miserable night going 0-3 along with 0-4 last night. Michael Bowden now pitching. Full count, strikes out swinging. Lind, pops it up for Punto in shallow left to make the catch. Two down for Encarnacion. This one is OUT of here, no doubt with that swing, quick swing, connected with all of it, and high into left field seats, home run Edwin. 7-1 Jays. Lawrie grounds to Punto, throw beat him this time for final out.

Top 8th: Yankees game with Baltimore tied up 4-4. Pedroia leading off. Perez still pitching. Full count. Grounds to Lawrie had to throw on the run and throw pulls Lind off the bag. Pedroia dives in safe. Gonzalez lines it to Rasmus in centre, makes the catch look easy, Thames could learn from Colby. One down, one on for Ortiz, fly ball to left Thames does not have to move. Two down for Youkilis. Full count. Drives it up the middle to Rasmus, Pedroia to third on the play. Two on two down for Sweeney. Pops it up to left and Lawrie slams into the wall trying to make catch in the crowd. All hustle, did not even look for the wall. That could hurt him later tonight though as his back hits the wall padding. Sweeney strikes out swinging, very nice pitching by Perez.
Bottom 8th: Jays would love to add more here. Bowden still out there, Thames leading off. Taps it in front of him and Bowden throw is wild and Thames safe at first. Arencibia with runner at first. 0-2 takes strike three. One down for Rasmus. Strikes out swinging. Two down for top of the order Escobar. Lazy swing and fly ball to Ellsbury in centre for third out.

Top 9th: Casey Janssen to finish it off Ross leading off, strikes out swinging, one down. Saltalamacchia full count. Takes strike three. Has been calling that strike all night long. Two down for Punto, pulls it into right field for a single. Top of the order Ellsbury. 3-0, Casey having trouble finishing them off here. Full count, low ball four. Here comes trouble spelt Pedroia. Singles to Thames in left, Punto holds at third, bases loaded. Gonzalez, 0-2 count, pulls it down to right, two runs score, 7-3 Jays. Ortiz with runners at second and third. 0-2 count, takes strike three, froze him down the middle. Jays win 7-3 and even the series, make up for last night.
Tomorrow school day at the park for series finale, it will be NOISY... Romero pitching and ready to make up for last poor outing. Lester to pitch for Red Sox.
36,000 attendance

The good: Drabek struggled at times but a huge difference from his pitching last year and this one should be good confidence builder. Jays have had back to back good starts from Alvarez and Drabek.
The very good: Lawrie with bat, glove and feet showing hustle, stolen base, running out an infield hit. Slamming into the wall. A typical Lawrie game. Rasmus sac fly RBI. RISP 5-10 a huige imporvement oiver all those games last season. Three stolen bases two for Encarnacion plus his home run, he had a great game picking uo Bautista.
The bad: Thames with his glove in left, two misplays of line drives. Bautista once again leaving them out there in scoring situations. 0-9 last at bats and 10 left on base. But the plus side is that rest of team is picking him up for a change.