Jays beat Orioles and win series behind Romero and bottom of the order hitting, speed and defense

Orioles v Jays. Game two of three. Jays changes today, Thames back to Vegas and I for one agree 110% and long overdue. Something about giving guy 100 at bats to prove himself, well it is now one third of the season. The only problem is that Travis is not the guy in Toronto. Mike McCoy again, infield insurance as well as outfield. Escobar also back, not sure that you can recover from a groin injury that fast and have to wonder whether that was Escobar being Escobar. Benefit of the doubt tonight, but it is too bad that he is back in number two spot. Johnson-Rasmus were a great one-two and far better than Escobar. However someone has to protect the back of Encarnacion and now that Thames has gone maybe just maybe he will be getting better pitches with Rasmus behind him. A sort of backhanded compliment to Colby to be moved up the order. Tonight Romero and who knows what he will bring. “He is ok in the bullpen before the game and between games” is the management mantra, that is fine but it is out here that matters. Has to be a large part mental, but again he had young Hutchison to watch last night and if that didn’t inspire him nothing will. He should forget about being the number one on the rotation until he can demonstrate it. The last few weeks have shown that he has a long way to go. If he can just cut down on those walks it would go a long way. Lineups: Orioles: Andino, Hardy, Markakis, Jones, Wieters, Reynolds, Davis, Betemit, Tolleson and Arrieta pitching Jays: Johnson, Escobar, Bautista, Encarnacion, Rasmus, Lawrie, Arencibia, Cooper, Davis and Romero pitching. Top 1st: Andino, grounds second pitch to Lawrie at third, throw to Cooper for first out. Hardy, grounds back off the glove of Romero to Escobar at short, throw to Cooper for second out. Markakis, full count, strikes out looking. 14 pitch inning, good start for Romero. Bottom 1st: Johnson, 2-1 count, grounds t second, throw to first, one down for Escobar, 2-2 count, takes strike three, Escobar is back, two down for Batista, 2-2 count, takes strike three. Jays hitters will have to start hitting that pitch. Pitch count 14. Top 2nd: Jones, drives first pitch to right and this one is out of here, just clears the fence in right, 1-0 Orioles. Wieters, 1-2 count, oh boy hits him on the arm, one on nobody out. Reynolds, 1-2 count, grounds slowly to Escobar at short, throw to Cooper for the out. Wieters to second. Davis, one down one in scoring position. 2-2 count, strikes out looking, two down. Betemit, 0-2 count, fly ball to Bautista in right to end this inning. 32 pitch count. Bottom 2nd: Encarnacion grounds to Tolleson at third, throw to first for the out. Rasmus grounds to Andino at second. Throw to Reynolds at first for second out. Arencibia lines it to Jones in centre for third out. 30 pitches. Top 3rd: Tolleson lines it hard to left but Lawrie makes a great stop and throw to first for the out, highlight reel pay helps Romero here. One down for Andino, 1-2 count, goes around according to home plate umpire. Andino does not like that call. May have a point on the replay. Two down though for Hardy fly ball to Davis in left. Nine pitch inning. 41 pitch count, Bottom 3rd: Time for Jays hitters to get something going here. Lawrie leading off. 2-2 count, goes after the high fast ball and singles into centre, there goes the no-hitter for Arrieta. Cooper with one on. Lawrie distracting Arrieta which he should be doing. 1-1 count, singles to centre, her did this last night twice, two on nobody out. Davis, bunting ? yes of course. Low ball one. Perfect and Arrieta throws it away at first here comes Lawrie, 1-1 game. Speed kills and an immediate endorsement of Thames in Vegas. Davis is so fast. Error to Arrieta. Cooper at third, Davis at second and still nobody out. Top of the order, Johnson. High full count. Takes strike three, looked high but you have to swing Kelly. One down for Escobar. Grounds to Tolleson, throw to first to get Escobar as Cooper scores 2-1 Jays. Bautista, with runner Davis at third. Jose struggling right now. Shift left which he hates but has to learn to adjust, once he does they will stop doing it. 2-2 count. Pops it up, when will he start to drive or even just push to right ? Jays get two but should have been more. 54 pitch count. Top 4th: Markakis, bounces to Johnson, throw to Cooper for the out. Jones, full count, low ball four, here we go again. Wieters, Romero needs a ground ball here.1-2 count, bounces to Lawrie at third, quick throw to first to get second out, no chance to get Jones first at second. Reynolds, Jones at second, full count, strikes out swinging. 61 pitch count. I don’t see Romero going nine tonight at this rate. Seven might be pushing it. Bottom 4th: Encarnacion leading off. 1-1 count, grounds to Tolleson at third, throw to first for the out. Rasmus, lines it down the first baseline, and bounces into the seats, ground rule double. Arencibia with Rasmus at second. Way outside 3-0 count, high ball four, two on one down for Lawrie, drives it to right centre, here comes Colby followed by Arencibia, 4-1 Jays and Lawrie to second, Cooper with one down and one on. Full count, drives it to Jones and he drops it, Lawrie had to hold , now tags and gets to third. Cooper to first. Error to Jones. Davis, two on, bunting? Lines it to left, here comes Lawrie, 5-1 Jays. Cooper to third and Davis all the way to second on the fumble. Error to Betemit. Top of the order, Johnson two in scoring position. 1- 2 strikes out looking. Two down for Escobar. Lines it hard but right at shortstop Hardy for third out. 77 pitch count. 5 of the 6 hits from the bottom third of the Jays order. Ouch. Top 5th: Romero has been staked to a four run lead here and can relax and concentrate on pitching throwing strikes, but will he? Davis leading off. Singles to centre. One on for Betemit. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down for Tolleson. 1-2 count, takes strike three inside, two down for top of the order. Andino, singles to Rasmus in centre, two on two down for Hardy. full count, grounds to Escobar at short, throw to Cooper for third out. Pitch count 83. Bottom 5th: Bautista full count, low ball four, gets a leadoff walk. One on for Encarnacion. Orioles bullpen working Gonzalez. Full count, great jump by Jose but fouled off. Low ball four and now Rasmus and not Thames. Can Colby make Arrieta pay here? He would love another double here. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down for Arencibia. That is it for Arrieta. Miguel Gonzalez now pitching his major league debut. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging on three pitches, two down for Lawrie. Lines to right, here comes Bautista, 6-1 Jays. Lawrie 3-3 tonight. Cooper with two on and Encarnacion at third. Singles blooper to left centre and here comes Encarnacion. 7-1 Jays. Davis with Lawrie at third, Cooper at first, two down. 2-2 count, that was close Rajai. Grounds back up the middle Lawrie scores 8-1 Jays. Cooper to second, Davis at first. Top of the order again. Wieters arguing with umpire, now Showalter, looks as if Wieters is already thrown out of the game. Jays have been there before. Ronny Paulino now catching, Johnson 0-3 tonight. 0-2 strikes out swinging leaving two on. Top 6th: Romero has had a long period sitting, will it affect him? Although he is already at 83 pitch count and this may be his last inning anyway. Markakis drives it back to Escobar bounces off the mound right to Escobar, throw to Cooper for the out. Jones, 2-1 count, singles back up the middle, one down one on for Paulino. Drives it into left for a stand up double. Two on one down for Reynolds. Lines to Lawrie at third throw to Cooper for the out Jones scores 8-2 Jays. One down runner at second. Davis, this is trouble high fly ball into left field bullpen, two more runs score 8-4 Jays. Romero not doing very well here again even with a seven run lead. Not good. Betemit, bases empty at least, two down. Full count. strikes out swinging but Romero has given up three here and Orioles are back in this game. 101 pitches for six innings says it all. Bottom 6th: Romero needs even more help here from his hitters. Escobar leading off. First pitch fly ball to Markakis in right, one down, Bautista , 0-2 count Frasor now warming up, lines it into left and stand up double as Betemit still having problems in the corner. Encarnacion with runner in scoring position and one down. Fly ball to Jones in centre. Bautista stays at second. Rasmus, 2-2 count, takes strike three. Bautista left out there at second. Jays are 6-17 with runners in scoring position tonight, wow, that is bad, bad, very bad even for this team. Top 7th: Frasor now pitching. Tolleson , pops it up to second and Johnson running backwards cannot get there. One on for Andino. 0-2 count, takes strike three, nice pitching Jason, one down one on for Hardy. 2-2 count, there it is strike three looking, two down. Markakis, 2-0 count, high to right centre and bounces over the wall, ground rule double as Tolleson would have scored. However two in scoring position for Jones. 3-1 count, outside ball four, bases loaded. Paulino tie run. 0-2 count, Darren Oliver warming up. Grounds to Johnson, throw to Cooper to end the inning. Close but that was all. Bottom 7th: Arencibia, leading off, pops up to Reynolds at first, one down. Lawrie has three hits tonight. Not this time, pops it up to Jones in centre, two down for Cooper, two hit night. 2-2 count, takes strike three, that was not a good at bat David. Top 8th: Darren Oliver now pitching. Reynolds leading off. Singles back up the middle. One on for Davis, singles over head of Escobar, two on nobody out. Betemit, strikes out. Cordero now warming up, oh boy. One down for Tolleson and here comes Farrell, that is it for Oliver and it is Cordero. Hang on here friends this could get ugly. Oliver only threw eight pitches 7 for strikes. Farrell playing percentages again. Endy Chavez pinch hitting for Tolleson. 2-0 count, grounds to Johnson, throw to Escobar can only get one here, Chavez too fast to double up on that one, two down. Andino, with two on. 1-2 count, that was very close. 2-2 count, Chavez takes second, strikes out swinging and Jays bullpen escapes again. Bottom 8th: It would be nice, for my heart at least, if Jays could get a couple more here. Davis leading off. 3-3 tonight. Justifies sending Thames down plus his speed in the third inning.. grounds to short, throw just gets him. One down for top of the order. Johnson 0-4 tonight. Does not want 0-5. Strikes out swinging, an evening to forget Kelly. Two down, here comes Showalter, change of pitcher for one out. Serious stuff for Showalter it is Escobar Buck, relax. Luis Ayala now pitching. Full count, grounds to Andino at second, throw to Reynolds at first for the out. Bottom 9th: Casey Janssen again, pitched last night for the save, pushing his limits John. Tough part of the Orioles order. Hardy, 1-2 count, singles into left, one on for Markakis, full count, lines it to right but Bautista makes the catch, one down. Jones, 2-2 count, there it goes, high into left field seats 8-6 game. This team was winning 8-1 of this game at one stage. Paulino, only one out, 2-1 count, drives it to centre and over head of Rasmus to the wall, double for Paulino.Once again Jays are imploding. Error to Rasmus but that was tough play. Reynolds, 2-1 count, Perez warming up 3-1 count. Low ball four, two on for Davis. Pops it up and Lawrie makes a great catch running and sliding for this one. That was one great catch he was playing deep and had a long run just to get to the ball let alone catch it. . Two down for Betemit. B Bounces high to Escobar and steps on the bag at second to get Paulino for final out. Jays win tough but a win is a win. Orioles outhit Jays 12-10. Rest of the division wondering what is going on in Toronto with Baltimore. The excellent: Lawrie three hit night but a tremendous catch in the 9th for an important second out. Davis three hit night and his bunting and speed to create error from Arrieta and score run. Add in two hits for Cooper and the bottom three have 8/12 runs tonight. Disappointing: Romero, still not sharp and although only one walk the Orioles are a power hitting team and not interested in walks. He gets the win but did not earn it tonight. Disappointing top of the order, Johnson 0-5 night. One hit between the top four. RISP 6-17 that is really bad. Add in 28 pitch inning for Janssen. Should Farrell have pitched him after last night ? Maybe not and he certainly will not be out there tomorrow. I guess a win is a win.