Rays dominate Jays and take the series as Frasor implodes

Rays v Jays. Final game of series.

Jays want (and need) to bounce back tonight after last night’s hammering. Tough match up for Alvarez but so far he has come through. If the hitters can give him a runs cushion it will help him. Thames still struggling in left. Great night last night for Escobar with four hits, but Lind did not continue his breakout night. Mathis more than compensated for Arencibia with his home run and good defensive play but JP is back tonight maybe he can improve on that current hitting average of .063. That IS bad. Baltimore has already beaten White Sox and head to the west coast before going head to head with the Jays next week.

Henderson Alvarez starting tonight

Lineups: Rays: Jennings, Zobrist, Pena, Longoria, Scott, Joyce, Keppinger, Molina, Rodriguez and Hellickson pitching.
Jays: Escobar, Johnson, Bautista, Lind, Encarnacion, Thames, Lawrie, Rasmus, Arencibia, and Alvarez pitching.

Top 1st: Jennings, grounds to Johnson at second, throw to Lind one down Zobrist, singles to Thames in left, one on one down for Pena, shift right, Lawrie in right in front of Bautista, full count, ball four, two on for Longoria. Need a ground ball here Henderson. Singles to Bautista in right. Zobrist scores, 1-0 Rays. Pena to third. Two on and still only one out. Scott, there we go, grounds to Johnson, to Escobar at second over to Lind double play ball rescues Alvarez from a potential big inning. 22 pitch count though.
Bottom 1st: Escobar, singles to right, boy is this guy hot or what? Long may it continue. Johnson, already has three home runs this season, pops it up to Jennings in shallow centre as he breaks his bat, one down for Bautista, 0-2 count, wild pitch and Escobar moves into scoring position at second, takes strike three, Jose not happy with himself on that. Lind, two down, this will do, fights it off into right field corner, Escobar scores easily 1-1 game, Lind to second. Encarnacion, Two down one on. 3-0 count, being careful here with Edwin. Full count. Wow that was close takes ball four but looked a strike from here. Very close. Good eye Edwin. Two on two down for Thames, off the end of his bat up the first base line, Hellickson tags him out to end the inning leaving two out there, please, please Alex bring Travis up. Pitch count 25.

Top 2nd: Joyce leading off, hits him just grazed his shirt, always a strange call in my book, Keppinger, grounds to Johnson throw to Lind, one down. Ex-Jay Jose Molina, strikes out, two down. Rodriguez lines to shallow right Jose throw in time but Arencibia misses it and it hits Alvarez backing up. Joyce scores 2-1 rays. Error to Jose, that is cruel. Rodriguez all the way to third on the play. Jennings lines it up the middle past diving Escobar, 3-1 Rays. Zobrist, grounds to Johnson, throw to Lind for the out but Rays score two more on a series of weird plays.
Jose really upset in the dugout, not his fault his throw was great it was Arencibia who not only missed the easy tag but almost knocked out his own pitcher. 37 pitch count.
Bottom 2nd: Lawrie, full count, grounds to second, throw to Pena at first for the out. Rasmus, first pitch swinging, pops it up to left, two down for Arencibia, tonight’s goat so far. Ok singles into centre to keep inning going. Escobar, one on two down. Grounds it up the middle for Rodriguez to make the throw to Pena to get Escobar and end the inning. Hellickson pitch count 39.

Top 3rd: Pena, shift right on. Bounces high to first, great play by Alvarez who takes it to the bag himself for the out, nice athleticism. Longoria, 0-2 count, takes strike three, great pitch, two down. Scott, fly ball to left, Thames makes the catch and third out.12 pitch inning. 49 pitch count.
Bottom 3rd: Johnson leading off. Strikes out swinging, one down for Bautista. Grounds to Pena throw to Hellickson for the out. Two down for Lind. Full count, low ball four. One on two down for Encarnacion, 2-2 count, lines it hard at Longoria bounces off his body and both runners safe, yet another error to Longoria, he will happy to leave Toronto, two on for Thames. 0-2 count, takes strike three but looked very low. 64 pitch count.

Top 4th: Joyce leading off, grounds to Lind, takes it himself for the out. Keppinger, grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind for second out. Molina, grounds to Lind knocks it down and from the ground flips to Alvarez as the lumbering Molina almost beats it out.
Bottom 4th: Lawrie leading off. Lines it hard to left but right at Joyce for the out. One down for Rasmus, great bunt by Colby up the third base line, no chance for throw by Longoria, National League experience by Colby, that was a perfect bunt. Arencibia, 0-2 count, this is trouble lines it to right over the head of Zobrist to the wall and Rasmus scores as JP has a stand up double, great time to come out of his slump. 3-2 Rays. Escobar with Arencibia at second, Grounds to short, oh throw Rodriguez is wild and over the head of Pena Arencibia all the way in and diving beats the throw to the late, this game is all tied up at 3-3. Johnson pops it up to Molina. Bautista, two down, pops it up to right for third out but Jays get back in this one. Hellickson at 79 pitches.

Top 5th: Rodriguez strikes out looking, one down. Jennings, oh dear, hammers this one into the seats in left, home run and 4-3 Rays. Zobrist, ball four. Pena, one down one on, 3-0 pops it up to Thames in left for second out. Longoria, full count, oh boy there goes the runner but this is trouble big-time as Longoria high into centre and off facing second deck, 6-3 Rays. Scott, grounds to Johnson throw to Lind for easy out. Pitch count however at 85.
Bottom 5th: Lind leading off Jays hitters playing catch up again. 2-2 count, bounces one back to Hellickson, throw to Pena for the out. Encarnacion, that’s the way Edwin, lines it to the wall in left, off the fence, for a stand-up double. Thames, grounds to second, throw to first for the out but Edwin to third at least on the play. Lawrie, two down, grounds to first, throw to Hellickson for third out, Edwin’s double wasted. Pitch count 92. Another bullpen battle ahead.

Top 6th: Joyce pops it up to Bautista in shallow right, one down. Keppinger, grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind for second out. Molina, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging, easy nine pitch inning for Alvarez. Now can the hitters do something? 94 pitch count. He may go another, at least start one.
Bottom 6th: Rasmus, 2-2 count, takes strike three, one down for Arencibia, breakout night for JP. Two hits and launches this one high to left but caught high on the wall by Joyce, JP half way to second in his home run trot, hmm! A little presumption there JP. Escobar two down. Rays bullpen working. Hellickson has been hit hard and pushing his luck.105 pitches. Full count and outside ball four. Maddon has seen enough, he has had a charmed life tonight since that first 25 pitch first inning and will not go six innings. Jake McGee now pitching to Johnson two down one on. 2-0 count, Perfect lines it to Zobrist in right for a single. Two on for Bautista. Maddon not risking it. Another pitching change. Badenhop to face Jose who would just love to connect here. Low ball one outside ball two, we get the picture Joe. Outside ball three, now a strike, low ball four to load the bases. Yet another walk for Jose. Here comes Maddon again. Like a yo yo out there. He would be in deep trouble if a game went into extra innings. Four pitchers for three outs and counting. Lind, JP Howell. Ball one bounces to the plate, 2-2 count, pulls it hard to left but right at Pena for the out. No breaks for the Jays here but they are using up the Rays bullpen.

Top 7th: Rodriguez, 1-2 count, grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind, one down for Jennings. Grounds to Lind, fumbles the ball and throw too late to Alvarez. Error to Lind. That is it for Alvarez. He did his job getting into the 7th. He could be pitching to third out but for Lind error. The Arencibia mistake on Bautista throw also cost him in the second inning. Evan Crawford now pitching. Zobrist, 3-0 count, not what Farrell wanted. There’s a strike. Full count. Low ball four, two on for Pena, OH BOY it gets worse, Jennings stealing third, Crawford throw over but balk called and both runners move up. Pena grounds to Lind but Jennings not going and Pena tagged out two down for Longoria. Not out of the woods by any means. Intentional walk to load the bases. Scott, Grand slam last night. 2-2 count, fly ball to left but Thames has it and makes the catch at the wall. Very nice pitching Evan.
Bottom 7th: Encarnacion leading off, double last at bat to get them going but stranded out there. full count, off-speed pitch fools him and strikes out swinging, one down for Thames. 0-3 tonight. Fly ball to Jennings in centre and Thames has another miserable night 0-4. Lawrie, two down, singles into right. Rasmus, Peralta warming up in the Rays bullpen. Rasmus strikes out, Howell did the job but it took him a lot of pitches, 23.

Top 8th: Jays have outhit the Rays 8-6. Crawford still pitching. Joyce, 2-2 count, high fly ball to right for Bautista to make the catch. One down for Johnson now in the game for Keppinger at second. Full count, outside ball four. Walk number four tonight. One on one down for Molina. Here comes Farrell. Fraser now pitching. 1-2 count on Molina. There goes Johnson as Fraser rushes the pitch and bounces it in. Strikes out swinging. Two down for Rodriguez. 1-2 count, strikes him out looking, very nice Jason. Great pitching but all in vain without run support from the hitters.
Bottom 8th: Peralta now pitching. Arencibia, two hit night and lines first pitch to left centre, Jennings and Joyce almost collide, that was close as Jennings makes the catch, one down for Escobar, pulls it to short, throw to Pena, two quick outs. Johnson, grounds to first throw to Peralta to make the catch and Jays go very meekly here, three up and down.

Top 9th: Just like last night Rays with six going into the 9th. Frasor still pitching. Jennings singles to Thames in left, one on. Zobrist, grounds to Lind, thinks about second but late throw to Frasor only just gets Zobrist. Pena with one on one down. 0-2 count, Jennings takes 3rd uncontested. Rodney warming up in the Rays bullpen. Full count, inside ball four. Two on one down for Longoria. Pops it up Lind at the dugout rail nowhere near the ball. Totally misjudged that one, that was playable. Another full count, pulls it into left field corner, one run scores, runners at second and third with still only one out,. Déjà vu last night’s game. 7-3 Rays. Scott, 0-2 count, lines double to the wall in right two more runs score, 9-3 Rays. Pinch runner Vogt. Walton out there to Fraser but he is already up to 33 pitch count, Farrell will understand that that is way over his limit. Cordero warming up in Jays bullpen. Joyce still with only one out. 2-2 count. Strikes out swinging. Finally an out. Two down. Johnson 2-2 count, strike three looking Bronx cheers from the few remaining Jays fans. Not many want to stay to the end of this one, although I guess it is an improvement last night. Fraser cannot throw 43 pitches, he is a one inning pitcher. Farrell has to learn that the hard way but any Jays fan could have told him that from history. Lind did not help either.
Bottom 9th. Bautista to lead off but Jose cannot score 7 runs himself. Fernando Rodney now pitching. Number six pitcher for Maddon tonight. 2-2 count, way outside ball three, even further outside, Rays somehow think Jose will score all the runs. Lind, needs to make up for that dropped ball which proved costly in the end. 1-2 count. Feeble pop up to Jennings in centre for the out. Lind back to his normal play. Encarnacion, bounces to third, great hustle down to first no throw and both runners safe, that is hustle, good for Edwin. Lind should be watching. Two on for Thames, singles to left to load the bases. Lawrie, don’t be a hero Brett, keep the line moving with base hits. 2-0 count, Bounces to Rodney tags out diving Lawrie as Bautista scores 9-4 game. Rasmus, with runners at second and third. Grounds to short, throw just beats him at first. Jays lose another horrible outing.

Once again Jays outhit the Rays 10-9 but lose by 5 runs. Perhaps the 2-11with runners in scoring position might explain why, not least the 13 left on base.
Until the Jays learn to beat the Rays they are going to find it hard to reach third place in the division.

The good: Alvarez despite the loss. Arencibia finally a two hit night to get his average over .100, and his other two outs were well hit to the outfield and was robbed of another double by Joyce. Rasmus perfect bunt. Encarnacion a two hit night.
The not so good: Where do we start? The hitters, underachieving. Lind dropping the pop up in the 9th lead to the extra three runs and that made huge difference to the bottom of the inning. Arencibia dropping the throw by Jose to the plate which had the runner easily. JP’s defensive game is really poor right now. Thames once again underperforming in left and surely his time is running out.
The very worst: Runners in scoring position, (2-11 tonight) the old story about this team and until they fix that problem this team will be a .500 team and no better.