Jays beat the Orioles behind great pitching of Hutchison and hitting of Kelly Johnson and Encarnacion

Orioles v Jays. Game one of three. Two teams going in opposite directions, one at the top the other at the bottom. Jays can hardly be looking forward to this week even though they are at home and finished with that lousy 1-5 road trip. Firstly the series three against the division leaders Orioles and then Boston for three, Boston now 24-24 and off the bottom of the division. IF Jays win tonight they can stay above Boston. Jays changes tonight down goes Chad Beck poor guy, one day and down again without one pitch in Texas. In his place Aaron Laffee. Another potential starter and at minimum long relief for this badly beaten up bullpen. Jays need contributions from a few more players this week. Jays are 1-5 against the Orioles to date this season. Tonight rookie Drew Hutchison to try to break five game losing streak against the division leaders. Are the odds stacked here ? Lineups: Orioles: Avery, Hardy, Markakis, Jones, Wieters, Betemit, Davis, Reynolds, Andino, and Hunter pitching. Jays: Johnson, Rasmus, Bautista, Encarnacion, Thames, Lawrie, Cooper, Mathis, Vazquez and Hutchison pitching. No Escobar with his groin injury but Kelly Johnson is back. I like Rasmus at second, no Arencibia despite his two home run game. Mathis tonight. Top 1st: Avery, full count, takes strike three, one down for Hardy, 2-2 count, takes strike three, two down. Markakis, 2-2 Markakis arguing that strike, grounds to Johnson throw to Cooper at first. Good start for Hutchison. 17 pitch count. Bottom 1st: Johnson leading off, 2-2 count, lines it to the wall in centre, eight pitch at bat by Kelly, very nice start Rasmus, full count, singles to right, here comes Johnson to score 1-0 Jays. Colby has been making strong case to hit number two in front of Jose and I for one support that. Escobar can move down behind Edwin and push Thames further down. Bautista runner at first. Pops up the first pitch to Hardy at short, come on Jose, one down. Encarnacion, one on one down, 2-2 count, fly ball to Markakis in right. Thames, singles to left, two on two down for Lawrie. Pops it up to Andino at second to end this inning. 27 pitches for Hunter. Top 2nd: Jones, grounds to Lawrie at third, low throw to Cooper at first to make the out. One down for Wieters, 2-2 count, fly ball to left centre, Rasmus makes the catch in front of the wall. Betemit, two down, full count, strikes out swinging, very nice, number three tonight. 30 pitch count. Bottom 2nd: Cooper, singles back up the middle, one on for Mathis, lines first pitch into left, two on for Vazquez. How much for a bunt? Perfect bunt up first base line Hunter throw to first for the out as both runners move into scoring position. Johnson, two on one down. Grounds to second, here comes Cooper to score 2-0 Jays. Mathis to third on the play. Two down for Rasmus, full count, grounds to Davis at first takes it himself for the out. 39 pitches and Jays have 2-0 lead. Top 3rd: Davis leading off. Singles to Bautista in right. One on for Reynolds, 3-1 count, outside ball four, first walk tonight. Andino. Need a ground ball here Drew Nice play, they have Davis picked off tags him out and throw to second runner Reynolds safe. Davis called out for running outside base line. Showalter arguing. One down. 3-1 count, ball four, walk number two. Two on one down for top of the order Avery. 0-2 count, very nice, strikes out swinging, two down, two on for Hardy. 2-0 come on Drew. 3-0 throwing more balls now than strikes. High ball four, he is having loads of trouble here throwing strikes. Bases loaded for Markakis. 1-1, perfect grounds back to Hutchison makes a great stop and throw to Cooper for the third out. Helps himself there, Off the hook big-time. 54 pitches. Bottom 3rd: Bautista grounds to third, throw to first ball gets away and Jose safe, escaped there. Encarnacion, yes Edwin, hammers this one deep to left, home run Edwin, 4-0 Jays. Thames, grounds to Andino at second throw to first, one down. Lawrie fly ball to Markakis in right, two down. Cooper singles back up the middle, his second hit tonight. Mathis grounds to Betemit, throw to Davis at first to end this one but Jays have two more. Hunter 59 pitches. Top 4th: Hutchison now pitching with a good lead. Jones, grounds to Vizquel at short, throw to Cooper for the out. Wieters, strikes out swinging, foul tip. Two down for Betemit, 2-2 count, grounds to Vizquel throw to Cooper. 68 pitches. Bottom 4th: Vizquel leading off, singles to Markakis in right. Top of the order Johnson. 2-1 count, Eveland working in the bullpen. Kelly hammers this one to centre, another home run for Jays 6-0 Jays. WOWeee. Rasmus, Here comes Showalter. Eveland to face Colby. Quick hook for Hunter. Colby singles back up the middle. Bautista, reached on the error last at bat and scored on Edwin’s home run. Grounds to short, on to second over to first, double play ball. Two down for Encarnacion. full count, lifts it softly to Andino for third out. Jays get two more. Top 5th: Davis, 1-2 count, strike three looking, six strikeouts. One down Reynolds, grounds first pitch to Vizquel, throw to Cooper two down. Andino, 2-1 count, singles back up the middle. One on two down for Avery. 2-2 count. Strikes out swinging, his third time tonight. Pitch count at 82. Bottom 5th: Thames leading off. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down. Lawrie, 2-0 count, whoa almost takes Eveland’s head off with that hit back up the middle. Single for Lawrie into centre. Cooper, 2-2 tonight. Strikes out swinging this time. Two down for Mathis. First pitch fly ball to Jones in centre for the final out. Top 6th: Could be last inning for Hutchison, pitch count at 82. Top of the order. Hardy, grounds to Lawrie at third, long hard throw to Cooper for the out. Markakis, full count, grounds to Vizquel, throw to Cooper, two down for Jones, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging at head high ball. Number eight strikeout tonight. 96 pitch count though. Bottom 6th: Vizquel leading off. Pops it up to Betemit at third. Luis Perez warming up in Jays bullpen. Johnson, 2-3 tonight. full count, lines it to left field corner, stand up double, his third extra base hit tonight. Rasmus, bring him in Colby. Also 2-3 night. Grounds to first, throw to Eveland for the out as Johnson to third on the play. Two down runner at third. 2-2 count, pops it up to Wieters the catcher, not a great at bat by Jose. Top 7th: Wieters leading off. Fly ball to Thames in left, one down for Betemit, first pitch identical play for Thames, two down. Davis, 1-1 count, ouch hits him on the foot. One on two down for Reynolds, full count, singles to centre, Davis all the way to third. Andino, two on base, two down. 2-2 count, gets him, strikes out looking. 115 pitches and that will be it for Drew tonight. Three hits, nine strikeouts, three walks. He gave the team and the bullpen a solid start and innings. His longest major league start, we forget the guy is a young rookie, he has set the series bar high now for the big guys Romero and Morrow. Bottom 7th: Encarnacion leading off. Fly ball to left for Avery to make the out. One down for Thames fly ball to Jones in centre, two down for Lawrie, pops it up to Markakis for third out. Three quick outs for Eveland. Top 8th: Luis Perez now pitching. Top of the order, Avery leading off. 3-1 count, high ball four. Hardy, 2-0 count, lost the strike zone here, way high, full count, that’s more like it, grounds to Vizquel, over to Johnson over to Cooper, two for one, double play ball. Markakis, 1-2 count, pops it up to Rasmus in center for third out. Bottom 8th: Bottom of the order. Ex-Jays closer Kevin Gregg now pitching. Cooper leading off. Two hit night for David. 0-2 count, grounds to Sandino at second, throw to first, one down for Mathis. Full count, looked high but third strike called. Vizquel, full count, pops it up to Andino behind second for the final out. Top 9th: Cordero now pitching. Jones leading off. Lines it to Bautista in right. Wieters, 2-2 count, singles back up the middle, Jones to third on the throw. Cordero making it difficult here. Betemit, 1-2 count, singles back up the middle, here comes Jones, 6-1 game. Nobody out two on for Davis. 2-2 count, just can’t finish them off. There he goes strikes out swinging, one down two on for Reynolds. Needs a ground ball here, full count, fly ball to the wall in centre, just misses going out. Wieters scores 6-2 Jays. Betemit at third. Reynolds at second. That is it for Cordero. Had nothing tonight. Casey Janssen now pitching with two in scoring position. Andino, 0-2 count, lines to Johnson for the second out, runners hold to avoid double play. Two down for pinch hitter Nick Johnson. Grounds first pitch to Cooper throw to Janssen for the final out. Jays win big. 6-2 but also close the gap at the top and put Boston below them once more. Both Tampa and Orioles lose today and Boston and Jays win so the division lead is squeezed once more. All five teams within 4.5 games. That is CLOSE. Tomorrow Romero has to keep the pressure on and give his best and get back to his winning form. The excellent: Tonight it had to be Drew Hutchison. The number five guy in rotation pitching after his shortest career outing in Tampa Bay last week, he pitched his career best for seven scoreless innings. Nine strikeouts and only three hits against a very good hitting club. The very good: Has to be Kelly Johnson coming back from the hamstring injury, two run home run, multi-hit 3 RBI game. The good: Encarnacion two run home run. Casey Janssen to close it out after Cordero opened the run gates. Fourth save for Casey. 12 hit night for the Jays with Johnson and Rasmus five between them in the top two lineup positions. Everybody in the lineup with a hit except Jose tonight but he did get on base on the throwing error and crossed home plate thanks to Edwin and his home run. Colby making a very strong case for him to stay number two when Escobar returns. Cooper two hit night. Baseball gods were with Jays tonight. Jays had their guys on base for their home runs as Texas did for theirs.