Jays fightback successful tonight as they beat Rays 6-2

Jays v Rays. Game one of three. Great news for Jays, Arencibia, AL Player of the week with his 4 home runs and 10 RBIs. The first Jays catcher in 35 years of franchise history to do so, that is an amazing achievement. Let’s hope “wild man” Lawrie has learned something this week, too many negative comments about roid rage, he has to show that he has learned something. In my mind Jays did not lose much with Yan Gomes in there at third for four games. Big series for the Jays, need to show the Rays they are for real sometime. Drabek tonight. Hellickson unbeaten 4-0 tough night but Hellickson has to lose sometime. Lineups: Jays: Johnson, Escobar, Bautista, Encarnacion, Arencibia, Thames, Lawrie, Rasmus, Mathis and Drabek pitching. Rays: Zobrist, Upton, Joyce, Pena, Scott, Rodriguez, Rhymes, Johnson, Molina and Hellickson pitching. Top 1st: Kelly Johnson, grounds to (Elliot) Johnson at short, throw to Pena at first, one down. Escobar, 0-2 count, grounds to Rodriguez at third, throw to first, two down for Bautista. Grounds to Rodriguez at third, throw to first to end an easy nine pitch inning for Hellickson. Very small crowd to start this one, baseball just not the sport for Tampa fans. Bottom 1st: Zobrist leading off. Full count, grounds to Johnson at second, throw to Encarnacion at first, one down. Upton, another full count, fly ball to Rasmus in centre and loses the ball, it drops way in front of Colby, no it may have hit the ceiling ring, umpires confere, and now doing a video review. Home run or double? Colby had that in sights for a fly ball. But it definitely dropped sharply which suggests it hit something. Weird stadium. Poor design. Home run is the call. Wow, that is weird. 1-0 Rays. Joyce, one down. 3-1 count, low ball four. Pena, fly ball to left for Thames to make the out. Two down. Scott, oh boy, grounds to right but Encarnacion makes great stop but throw is behind Drabek covering. Error on play to Drabek. Two on two down. Rodriguez 1-2 count, takes strike three, great pitch. Drabek recovered nicely from that crazy first inning. 25 pitch count. It is strange that Tampa does not have cameras covering the roof to make the call easy for the umpires. Top 2nd: Drabek needs help here from his offence. Encarnacion, lines it into left. One on for Arencibia, 2-0 count, grounds to third, throw to Rhymes at second to get Edwin but throw is wild at first, Arencibia easily gets to second. Error to Rhymes at second. Thames singles into centre, here comes Arencibia, but throw home is over to first and Thames is out at first, caught off the bag, horrible mistake. 1-1 game. Two down for “wild man” Lawrie. Lines to Upton in centre for third out, but they do at least tie this one up for Drabek. 21 pitch count. Bottom 2nd: Rhymes, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down. Johnson, 2-2 count, grounds to Edwin at first, nice stop and scoops it to Drabek covering first. Two down ex-Jay Jose Molina. Full count, high inside. One on two down for Zobrist. 2-2 count, grounds to Edwin, takes it himself for an easy out. Problem is pitch count for Kyle now at 47, thanks to that weird first inning. Explanation now for the “home run” it hit a wire !!!! which runs to the catwalk from the lights. Top 3rd: Rasmus, that’s the way Colby, hammers this one to right field wall stand up double. Nice hit and no need for extra wires to help him. Mathis, bring him in Jeff. Showing bunt, what a waste. Let the guy hit away. 1-2 count, Hellickson has some doubts here, needs help from Molina. 2-2 count. Jose advice did not help much. Perfect lines it to centre for the out. Colby tags and gets to third easily. One down with Colby at third. Johnson, 2-0 count, shatters his bat. 2-1 count, this will do easily, high fly ball to Zobrist in right for the sac fly, no need for wires here, Colby ambles home for second run. 2-1 Jays, Escobar, two down.0-2 count, singles to left, one on two down for Bautista. OK Jose, let’s get going here. Pitching him away, full count, strikes out but it took ten pitches. 43 pitch count for Hellickson. 22 pitch inning, ouch, he will not be happy with that. Plus he has given up the lead. Bottom 3rd: Upton. Pops it up to Lawrie for an easy first out. No help from the roof this time. Joyce, 3-1 count, low ball four. One on one down. Need a ground ball here Kyle. Pena, ball in the dirt. there goes Joyce, and safe at second, no throw. Not even a wild pitch and the double play is out. full count, goes around that time for strike three, two down for Scott runner at second.2-2 count, bounces it in and wild, runner to third. Full count, low ball four, two on two down for Rodriguez. Singles to centre and here comes the tie run. 2-2 game. Two on two down. Rhymes, another wild pitch, and both runners move up. Calm the guy down someone. Now Mathis is out there. Drabek leads the league in wild pitches with 7, not an enviable record. 2-2 count, pops it up to Thames in left for the out. Could be much worse, but 76 pitch count for Drabek, may get one more inning at this rate. Top 4th: Jays need a big inning to rescue Drabek tonight. Encarnacion 2-2 count, pops it up to Rodriguez. One down. Arencibia, 1-2 count, singles to left. Nice swing JP. Thames, 2-2 count, way outside, full count. Grounds back to Hellickson, throw to second over to first, double play 59 pitch count. Not much luck tonight for the Jays. Bottom 4th: Can Drabek get in to the 5th? Johnson leading off. 2-2 count, fly ball to Bautista in right, one down for Molina, 3-1 count, low ball four, yet another walk by Drabek. Just not his night, five walks tonight. Zobrist, third at bat in four innings, not good at all Kyle. 2-2 count, lines out to Thames but pitch count is 90! Ouch. Upton, grounds to Lawrie throw to Johnson to get Zobrist. 94 pitches. Almost 50 pitches more than Hellickson. Well at least he gets into the 5th. Top 5th: Lawrie leading off. Bounces to third, long throw just gets Lawrie, one down. Rasmus, lines to right for Zobrist to make the out, two down for Mathis. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. 8 pitch inning, Jays hitters not going deep into this guys count apart from Jose. Bottom 5th: Bullpen will be trying to keep Jays in this one now. Joyce, 2-2 count, grounds to Johnson, throw to Edwin, one down. Break here as Johnson needs help for his leg. Pena, Another pitch gets away but nobody on base. 3-1 count, low ball four. 103 pitches. 51 balls tells it all.Scott. now the bullpen starts? 0-2 count, grounds to Edwin, nobody there at second so takes the out at first, horrors, two down that was a double play ball but shift was on, who’s on second very apt comedy. Poor Drabek. Rodriguez pops it up to Lawrie at third for final out. Top 6th: Johnson, 2-2 count, pops it up to Pena at first, one down. Escobar. Gets hold of this one high to left centre and over the fences home run Yunel. 3-2 game. Bautista, grounds to third, throw to first for the second out. Encarnacion. 0-2, takes both pitches. 2-2 count, yet to swing at one. Fly ball to Joyce in left centre for third out. Pitch count 83 for Hellickson and Jays have the lead. Bottom 6th: Another surprise by Farrell, here comes Drabek. 108 pitch count ??? Pitcher’s manager rolling the dice here. Rhymes, 2-2 count, singles to centre. Farrell stays put. Where is Cito when we need him. Johnson, one on, grounds to Escobar, steps on the bag and throw to Edwin for double play, finally Drabek gets a break, two down for Molina. Grounds to Edwin at first, fumbles it but takes it to the bag for the third out. Manager Farrell is off the hook with that gamble. 118 pitch count. Six walks and three wild pitches. Top 7th: Arencibia, 2-2 count, singles to right, nice at bat JP. Thames, 2-2 count, lines to right but at Zobrist for the first out of the inning. Jason Frasor now warming up in bullpen. Lawrie, 2-2 count, grounds to short, throw to second over to first to get double play. Second tonight by Rays. 97 pitch count, Bottom 7th: Frasor now pitching, top of the order Zobrist. 1-2 count, singles to Bautista in right. One on for Upton, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. One down one on for Joyce. Shift again but I hope they know who is covering second this time. There he goes and throw by Mathis gets him. Nice tag by Escobar. Two down. 2-2 on Joyce. Pops it up left foul but catchable but nobody there with the shift right. Gamble failed that time. Strike three looking. Frasor has to do it himself. Top 8th: Rays bullpen working. Rasmus leading off. 2-1 count lines it into right another stand up double for Colby. Second tonight, Mathis, bunting 0-2, strikes out swinging. One down for top of the order. Johnson. Intentional walk to get to Escobar, Yunel will like that ! That is it for Hellickson, will not get the win tonight. Gave up eight hits but two double plays rescued him tonight along with the roof. Burke Badenhop now pitching. Yunel 2-3 tonight. 1-2 count, grounds it back to Badenhop and off his glove and everyone safe. Error to Badenhop. Bases loaded one down for Bautista, when was his last grand slam? 0-3 tonight. Takes strike one. And two. Come on Jose. Grounds to third, Rodriguez throw to Rhymes at second and ball gets away into right centre, here comes Rasmus, here comes Johnson, two runs score, error to Rodriguez. Rays second error of the inning. 5-2 Jays. Bautista at first, Escobar at third. Encarnacion. One down, 1-2 count, grounds to Rodriguez throw to Rhymes at second on to first, pulls Pena off the bag and Edwin safe. Bautista slide at second puts off the fielder Rhymes. Escobar scores, 6-2 Jays. Arencibia, two down and Edwin at first. 1-2 count. Strikes out swinging but the errors help Jays here to score three more. Bottom 8th: Davis in left for Thames. Cordero now pitching. Pena leading off. 2-2 count, bunts foul for the strikeout. Scott, 2-1 count, grounds to Lawrie in shallow right for the shift, throw to Edwin at first, two down. Rodriguez first pitch fly ball to Bautista in right for third out. Top 9th: Cesar Ramos now pitching. Rajai Davis, 2-2 count, pops it up to Rhymes at second, one down for Lawrie. Hitless tonight, 1-2 count, grounds to Rhymes at second, throw to Pena for the second out. Rasmus, two doubles tonight, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging this time. Bottom 9th: Casey Janssen now pitching. Bottom third of the order. Rhymes. 2-1 count, singles to Bautista in right. Johnson, need a ground ball here Casey. 1-2 count, takes strike three, one down. Molina, 2-0 come on Casey, low 3-0, there we go, 3-1, full count, grounds back to Janssen, knocks it down and only one option left to get Molina at first. Two down for Zobrist. Rhymes at second, Zobrist, first pitch high fly ball to Bautista in right to end this one. Jays win 6-2 and very unlikely win for Drabek ! Hellickson loses his first of the season. Huge win for the Jays in Tampa especially when Drabek was struggling the whole game. He needs to thank his manager for that win letting him stay in the game for the sixth. The good: Rasmus with his two hits. Escobar with the home run. The top four in the lineup with RBIs. Jays bullpen Fraser, Cordero and Janssen, closing Rays down. Not so good: Drabek although he gets the win had a horrible night. The Upton home run seemed to put him off stride and he was struggling throughout. The terrible: Thames mistake in the second to get caught off the bag. The Upton home run off the wire in the roof.