Jays fall short as bats again fail behind good outing by Hutchison

Jays v Angels. Final of four game series. Jays hope they have left all the defensive errors behind them last night but to be fair it was the pitching staff . Is Lind starting to get hot? Will Bautista find his stroke? and today Pujols is back in the lineup after a day off to clear his head. Let’s hope he finds his stroke tomorrow and not today. Break today for Escobar and Vizquel replacing him. Thames in Escobar’s spot in the order. A tough assignment for young Drew Hutchison. Jerome Williams today a very good pitcher for the Jays to face. Encarnacion playing at first today with Lind, DH. Never a good idea for Edwin to play in the field, takes away from his hitting production. Lineups: Johnson, Thames, Bautista, Lind, Encarnacion, Lawrie, Rasmus, Arencibia, Vizquel and Hutchison pitching. Angels: Trout, Izturis, Pujols, Morales, Trumbo, Wells, Callaspo, Aybar, Ianetta and Williams pitching. Top 1st: Johnson, grounds first pitch to Aybar, throw not in time. One on for Thames, strikes out swinging. One down for Bautista. Grounds to third, throw to second over to first double play ball. Ouch Jose. Pitch count 9. Bottom 1st: Trout leading off. Strikes out swinging, good start. Izturis, lines it to centre, long out to Rasmus, makes nice running catch. Two down for Pujols, how would you like to be in the shoes of Hutchison right now facing Albert. Pujols, fly ball to left for Thames 10 pitches. Very nice Drew. Top 2nd: Lind leading off, this is the guy they need to come out of his long slump. 2-2 grounds to Pujols, flips to Williams covering for the out. One down for Encarnacion. High fly ball to Trout in centre, two down. Lawrie. 3-0 count, high ball four. Lawrie walks, one on two down for Rasmus. There goes Lawrie, Rasmus lines it to Trout for third out. Pitch count 26. Bottom 2nd: Morales, shift right with Lawrie in front of Bautista, strikes out swinging. One down for Trumbo. 3-1 count, fly ball to Thames, two down. Vernon Wells, 2-2 count, hanging tough here fouling them off. Lines it to left, stand up double. Callaspo, grounds to Vizquel, throw to Lind to end the inning. Sorry Vernon. Pitch count 31. If Hutchison can give six today I think Farrell will be happy. Top 3rd: Arencibia, pops it up to Aybar at short and oh boy, he drops it, a life for JP, no error given? . Vizquel. Arencibia going, Vzquel grounds to Pujols at first, steps on the bag for the out, Vizquel did his job. Johnson, grounds first pitch to Pujols, steps on the bag, Arencibia to third but two down. Thames, perfect singles into left centre, here comes Arencibia for Jays first run.1-0 Jays. Bautista, 0-2 count, pops it up to Ianetta. 35 pitches. Is it time for Jose to take a day off ??? Bottom 3rd: Aybar, bunting to third, very nice play by Lawrie, he is so quick, throw to Encarmacion at first for the out. One down for Ianetta, strikes out swinging, two down for Trout. Second time now through the lineup may be a little different for Hutchison. Strikes out swinging. Excellent. Pitch count 41. Quick three up and down 10 pitch inning. Top 4th: Lind leading off. Lifts it high to right but Trumbo makes the out at the wall. One down for Encarnacion. Lines it high and hard to centre but Trout makes the catch also at the wall, Jays hitting hard but not enough to go out in this ball park. Lawrie grounds first pitch to Callaspo at third. Nine pitch inning for Williams. 44 pitches. Bottom 4th: Izturis leads off, pulls it to Bautista in right. Pujols, there goes Izturis, and safe at second. Full count, got him, nice pitch as Albert strikes out. Morales, lines it to left, Thames cannot come up with it and Izturis to third on the play. Two on for Trumbo. Lines it back at Hutchison off his body into the outfield Izturis scores 1-1 game. Morales to third. Wells, high pop up Encarnacion. Two down. Callaspo. Singles to left, here comes Morales. 2-1 Angels. Trumbo to second. Aybar, grounds to Johnson, throw to Encarnacion for third out. 63 pitch count. Big inning for Hutchison, he bent but did not break. However he needs some run support. Top 5th: Rasmus, this guy is slipping and needs to get going, turns on this pitch and hammers it to right and off that high scoreboard, that would be a home run anywhere else. Long single as ball bounces back to fielder Trumbo. Arencibia, another high fly ball to left but Wells makes the catch, one down for Vizquel. 3-0 count, nice, lines it to Trumbo in right. Rasmus holds at second. Top of the order. Johnson, 1-2 count, takes strike three. Two down. Thames, strikes out swinging. Pitch count 63. Bottom 5th: Ianetta, takes strike three, nice. One down for Trout. Lines it off the scoreboard in right, stand up double. Izturis, lines it to Rasmus in centre, two down. Pujols with runner at second. 2-1 count, there it gores, home run for Pujols, two runs score. First of the season and off his back. 4-1 Angels. Morales. Pops it up to Thames to end the inning. Top 6th: Bautista oh boy, hammers it to left off the wall as Vernon misses the opportunity, stand up double. Lind grounds to second, Jose to third. Encarnacion. Lines it to Trout in centre, here comes Jose one back, 4-2 Jays. Lawrie, strikes out looking, Brett thinks it high. But no joy with the umpire. Jays get one back though. Bottom 6th: Trumbo leading off. Singles to Johnson. One on for Wells, grounds to Lawrie, throw to Encarnacion to get Vernon, one down. Trumbo to second. That is it for Hutchison. Oliver now pitching. Callaspo, lines it to Thames in left, dives but unable to get it, single, Trumbo to third. Aybar, grounds to Lawrie, Trumbo running on contact, throw to Arencibia, tags him out, two down. That’s it for Oliver. Frasor again ?? No idea why. Ianetta, two on two down. Fly ball to right for Bautista to make the catch. Top 7th: Rasmus leading off. Fly ball to Wells in left, one down for Arencibia, singles to Wells in left, one on one down for Vizquel. Rounds to Pujols, throw to Aybar and throws it into outfield. Arencibia to third on the play. Vizquel safe at first on the play. Johnson, one down. Singles to left, here comes Arencibia, 4-3 Angels. Two on for Thames, Vizquel at second. Johnson at first. Fly ball to Wells in left. Here comes Scioscia, that is it for Williams ?? I think they are over estimating Bautista abilities these days. Dave Carpenter now pitching. Two on, that was the pitch, takes it. That is his major problem these days, his pitch selection taking strikes. Lack of aggression and there he does it again full count and takes the pitch ??? Bottom 7th: Janssen now pitching. Trout, strikes out looking, nice pitch. One down for Izturis, ouch nasty, grounds to Encarnacion and ball bounces in his face, Izturis safe at first. Edwin ok. Pujols now, one down runner at first. 3-0 count, not good Casey. Fly ball to Bautista in right. Two down for Morales. Oh man, balk called. Izturis to second. Pops it up to Thames in left. Top 8th: Hunter in right for Trumbo. Frieri now pitching. Lind, outside ball four, lead off walk. Rajai Davis pinch running. This should be interesting. Encarnacion pops it up to Frieri, throw to first to get Davis who was already at second, double play. Not good Edwin. Two down for Lawrie. Full count, fouling them off here, strikes out, seven pitch at bat for Brett but not enough this time. Bottom 8th: Villanueva now pitching. Hunter, strikes out swinging, one down. Wells, strikes out swinging, two down for Callaspo fly ball to Bautista. Top 9th: Ex-Jay pitcher Scott Downs to finish it off. Rasmus grounds to Callaspo throw to Pujols, one down for Arencibia, singles to Trout in centre. Tie run on base. Mathis now pinch runner for Arencibia. Pitching change. LaTroy Hawkins replaces Downs. Vizquel at bat. One on one down. No !!! lines it right back at Hawkins, walks it over to Pujols to double up Arencibia. Jays close but not enough and split the series with the Angels, not as good as it sounds when they took the first two games. On to Oakland where the Orioles have just swept Boston in a 17 inning game. Outfielder Darnell McDonald, pitched the last one for Boston to take the loss. Two walks, two hits and three runs gives him an ERA of 27. Yankees win and Tampa lose today. Tampa lose two in a row at home after going 12-1 to start the season at home. The very good: Arencibia three hit day. 3-4. Drew Hutchison once again did more than enough for a win. Not so good: The hitters once again not enough run support for the young guys.