Jays bats break out behind solid Drabek outing

Orioles v Jays. Game three Series finale.

Jays will be glad to see Orioles leave town and hopefully with a thrashing today but right now they will take any win. Baltimore are already proving to be a tougher opponent than previous seasons and that spells trouble for the remainder of the season for the Jays hoping to pick up any easy wins in their division. But a long season to go. Fallout continues today about Lawrie and his very ill-advised attempt to steal home. He thought he had timed everything but he forgot one more thing, the readiness of Hamel who says that he had already seem him stretching the lead at third and was more than prepared to throw to the plate when he broke. But more disturbing to me is that Lawrie sees no error and says he would do the same again in that situation. I hope not bigtime. No comment (public) yet from Bautista but Farrell made it very clear that it was a stupid move in more diplomatic words. Yes Lawrie is a young hotdog and we thought we would enjoy it but he has to read the situation a whole lot better.

Today Drabek, and who knows with Kyle.

Lineups: Orioles: Chavez, Johnson, Markakis, Jones, Betemit, Davis, Paulino, Flaherty, Andino, and Matusz pitching.
Jays: Escobar, Johnson, Bautista, Encarnacion, Lawrie, Francisco, Rasmus, Davis, Mathis, and Drabek pitching.

Top 1st: Chavez leading off, 0-2, grounds to Escobar, throw to Encarnacion playing first for Lind today, one down. Johnson, lines it high into right centre, no problem for Colby to make nice running catch, he makes it look so easy. Two down for Markakis, grounds to Escobar, throw to at first to end the inning. Nice pitching Kyle. Pitch count 15.
Bottom 1st: Escobar, pulls it into left for a single. Johnson, takes strike three. Bautista, high pop up to Davis in foul ground, two down, Encarnacion. Whoa, Edwin grounds to third and through the gloves of Betemit, a wicked bounce, into left, error on play, two on two down for Lawrie. Pops it up to Markakis in right to end the inning. Lawrie leaves two on base. Pitch count 19.

Top 2nd: Jones, pop it up to right for Bautista to make the catch, one down for Betemit, grounds to Encarnacion, throw to Drabek and he drops the ball, Davis with one on and one down. Error to Drabek. Davis lines one down third base line, Lawrie not there, playing over to short, runners move into scoring position. Paulino, grounds to Escobar, throws to first for second out and concede run by Betemit. 1-0 Orioles. Runner moves to third. Two down for Flaherty, takes strike three. Pitch count 32.
Bottom 2nd: Ben Franciso DH today, nice hit, drives it to the wall in right centre, stand-up double for Ben. Rasmus, oh boy, hammers it to right but right at first base playing off the bag, makes great catch and throw to second to double off Francisco. That was really bad luck for Colby, Davis, playing in left for Thames today. Ball four, Mathis catching today, gets underneath this one and high fly ball to centre for the out. 35 pitch count.

Top 3rd: Andino, strikes out swinging. Chavez, lines it hard to Escobar at short, great low catch by Yunel, two down. Johnson bounces it back to Drabek, takes it himself to the bag this time for the out, short 10 pitch inning. Pitch count 42.
Bottom 3rd: Top of the order Escobar leading off. Bangs it back up the middle through Matusz. One on for Johnson, grounds to short, steps on the bag at second over to first, another double play ball. Two down for Bautista, home run swing but not this time, high pop up to left for the out. 44 pitch count.

Top 4th: Markakis leading off. First pitch high fly ball to Bautista in right. One down for Jones, full count, lines it hard to right, Bautista makes outstanding catch over his shoulder at the wall, highlight reel for Jose. Two down. Betemit, high fly ball to left centre bounces over the wall. Ground rule double for Betemit. Davis, pops up first pitch to Lawrie. 53 Pitch count.
Bottom 4th: Jays have been threatening big inning but double plays have hurt them so far. Encarnacion, pops it up to Markakis in right. Lawrie, full count, gets hold of this and into left field seats, home run Lawrie. 1-1 game. Francisco, 3-0 count, outside ball four. One on one down for Rasmus, robbed of a base hit by great play last time up. High pop up to shallow right for Markakis, two down. Davis, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. 64 pitch count.

Top 5th: Paulino, singles to Rasmus, Flaherty, 0-2, nice pitch strikes out swinging. Wicked pitch. One down for Andino, singles back up the middle, two on, Chavez, 1-2 count, Excellent play, bounces hard back at Drabek makes great play to glove it whirls and throw to Escobar at second over to Encarnacion double play ball to end the inning. Great defensive play by Drabek. Pitch count 66.
Bottom 5th: Mathis leading off. Full count, high ball four. One on for Escobar, first pitch, ! grounds to short, Hardy steps on the bag, over to first, the third double play ball given up by Jays hitters, Johnson, 0-2 count, strikes out. Pitch count 78. Matusz has been only lucky pitcher this afternoon with those double plays.

Top 6th: Johnson leading off. Strikes out looking, great pitch. One down for Markakis, 3-0 count, careful here Doug, that’s better, grounds to Escobar, throw to Emcarnacion, two down. Jones, oh no ! Turns on this one, high to left and off the third level windows, home run Jones 2-1 Orioles. Betemit, full count, great pitch inside, strikes him out. 86 pitch count.
Bottom 6th : Bautista leading off. Jose now at .188 and sinking fast really needs something to get him going. This might do, drives it to Jones in centre, stand-up double to lead off. Encarnacion, OH YES Edwin, launches one and much better than N. Korea, this one is a rocket to the seats in left, two run home run for Edwin and Jays get the lead back, 3-2 Jays. Lawrie, grounds to Flaherty at second throw to Davis at first for the first out of the inning. One down for Ben Francisco, lines it to Jones in centre for a single. Rasmus, strikes out swinging two down. Davis, ball four and walk for Rajai. Two on two down and that is it for Matusz. Ex-Jay Kevin Gregg now pitching. Mathis, singles to Chavez in left, here comes Francisco to score, 4-2 Jays. Davis to third easily and beats the throw, Mathis goes to second on the throw. Escobar, doubles to Markakis in right, here comes Davis and Mathis, 6-2 Jays. Johnson, lines it off the wall in left, Escobar scores. 7-2 Jays. Bautista, with Johnson at second, full count, high ball four. Two on for Encarnacion who has already launched one this inning. High and inside chin music from Gregg. Full count, ball four to loads the bases. Lawrie, 1-2 count, hits him on the elbow, Johnson scores 8-2 Jays. Bases still loaded. Francisco pops it to shallow right to Markakis to end this but Jays break out finally with seven runs.

Top 7th: Davis leading off, ball four, come on Kyle. Paulino with one on, grounds to Escobar, flip to Johnson over to Encarnacion double play ball. All going the Jays way right now. Flaherty, 2-2 strikes out swinging. Short work for Drabek. 97 pitch count.
Bottom 7th: Troy Patton now pitching. Rasmus leading off. Grounds to second, throw to first for the out. One down for Davis, same play, grounds to second, over to first, two down for Mathis, full count, lines it to centre, Jones and Markakis converge and off the glove of Jones, double for Mathis. Escobar, grounds to short, throw to first for the out, (Escobar not hustling down the line).

Top 8th: Drabek out to start this one at least. Andino leading off. Singles into centre. Chavez with one on grounds to Lawrie throw to Johnson, makes the out but drops the ball on transfer, could have been two. Here comes Farrell. 103 pitches for Drabek and an excellent outing. Luis Perez now pitching. Johnson with Chavez at first. High and inside and hits him on the wrist. Markakis, grounds to Johnson, throw to Escobar at second back to Encarnacion at first double play ball to end the inning.
Bottom 8th: Patton still out there. Johnson, strikes out swinging, one down for Bautista, full count, hammers it to right but right at Betemit at third. Encarnacion lines it to left centre off the wall for a double. Lawrie, singles up the middle Edwin scores from second, 9-2 Jays. Omar Vizquel getting a chance, yeah, grounds to short, throw to first to end the inning.

Top 9th: Evan Crawford getting his major league start. Jones leading off. Grounds to Escobar, throw to Encarnacion for the out. Betemit, great offspeed pitch to strike him out, he will remember his first strike out. Davis, two down. Doubles to the wall in right centre. Paulino, grounds to Escobar, throw to Encarnacion for final out,
Jays finally win big. (Note to editor: Nice prophesy) They threatened early innings but successive double plays robbed them of any results. Drabek kept them in the game until Jays beat up on Kevin Gregg to put this one away.

The excellent: Drabek really earned his second win. Kept his pitch count down throughout the game, only in trouble in one inning. It wuld be tremendous if he could breakout this season.

The very good: Encarnacion, Francisco and Mathis and even Davis all did a great job today. Jays defense, Jose, Escobar, Johnson, Rasmus and even Drabek contributed with their gloves.

The good: Let’s give young Evan Crawford a star today for his one inning work major league debut.

One great statistic today Jays hitters 5-9 runners in scoring position.
Day off tomorrow to prepare for the Rays on Tuesday but Jays should be in a better mood than yesterday.