Jose leads home run parade with two but Jays fall one short in loss to Twins as Drabek implodes

Jays v Twins Game two of four. Good night last night for the Jays pitching, hitting and defensive plays. Three more double plays to highlight the evening. Tonight same lineup and with Drabek pitching. Lind remains at number 8 and the news about Vladdy did not inspire him to produce, he will be looking over his shoulder now for a while to check on performance of Guerrero. If you were to ask most Jays fans right now they would love to see Vladdy out there in a Jays uniform. Escobar appears to be loving that number two spot and has produced bigtime.On the downside Jose still unable to get in a groove. Last night Marquis was all over the place and hitting him did not help Jose’s concentration. It will come but it is painful to be watching meantime, Lawrie and Johnson continue to be the highlights with both bat and glove and have managed to cover the shortcomings. Tonight Blackburn who has not won since July 2011, however as all Jays fans know this is where Jays tend o disappoint s and play a lousy game. Jays reply with Drabek and we can never forecast Drabek, very good or lousy, very rarely in between. Jays need runs tonight, lots of them. Lineups: Jays: Johnson, Escobar, Bautista, Encarnacion, Thames, Lawrie, Rasmus, Lind, Arencibia and Drabek pitching. Twins: Span, Dozier, Mauer, Willingham, Doumit, Plouffe, Parmalee, Mastroianni, Carroll, and Blackburn pitching. Rain delay for two hours. At least we never see those in Rogers Centre. Top 1st: Here we go. Johnson, lines it right back at Blackburn, throw to Parmalee playing first, one down. Escobar, strikes out swinging. Two down for Bautista, THERE WE GO Jose..... turns on this one and high into second deck left field seats, HOME RUN Jose, his bat speed is so fast. 1-0 Jays. Happy Jose. Encarnacion. Grounds to Plouffe at third nice play and long throw to get Edwin at first to end the inning but Jose has given Jays the lead. 17 pitch count. Bottom 1st: Span, ball four, leadoff walk. One on for Dozier. Grounds to Lawrie, no chance to get Span at second, throw to Lind to get Dozier. One down for Mauer. Ball four, second walk. Nine balls 4 strikes. Drabek has a real problem right now. Willingham with two on. 3-1 count, come on Kyle, get some strikes. There’s one. Full count, outside ball four to load them up on three walks, Awful, ruining the great start by Jose. Coach Walton out there. Need a ground ball here guy. Doumit. Low ball one. Low ball two. Strike one, strike two, Full count. Singles to Rasmus in centre, two runs score. 2-1 Twins. At least he didn’t walk him. Plouffe, one down two on. Strikes out swinging. Two down. Parmalee, two down two on. Grounds to Johnson, throw to Lind to end this nightmare inning. 33 pitches. This is like the Drabek of last season before he visited Vegas. Not long for this game at that rate. But on the other hand he was very lucky it was only two runs. Top 2nd: Thames leading off. Blackburn had a great nap during that marathon. Bounces back to Blackburn throw to first, quick out. Lawrie, first pitch bounces back to Blackburn throw to first, two down three pitches. Is there a curfew tonight? Rasmus, full count, pulls this high to right, but dies at the wall for Mastroianni to make the catch. Pitch count 26. Bottom 2nd: Mastroianni, should be used to Drabek from spring training. Full count, fouling them off here, strikes out swinging but an eleven pitch at bat, not what Drabek needs to get one out. Carroll, outside ball four on seven pitches, number nine hitter, this guy has nothing tonight John, come on get long relief working. Plus the bullpen needs some work. Span, 2-2 count, giving Lind a workout on those throws to keep Carroll there. Another full count, singles past a diving Johnson into right centre, two on. Carroll at third. At least it was not another walk. Dozier. There we go, Span running and throw to Johnson gets him, two down. Strikes out swinging. Drabek escapes any damage here. But 62 pitches for two innings ouch. Top 3rd: I guess Jays will need a bucket of runs tonight to counter Drabek. Lind, full count, ball four. Lead off walk. Arencibia, singles to left, two on. Top of the order Johnson. Lucky lucky. Grounds to Blackburn, throw to second to get Arencibia, back to first not in time. Gardenhire does not agree, two on for Escobar. One down. Grounds first pitch back to Blackburn, throw to second back to first double play. Awful. What is Escobar thinking? His job was to get on base for Jose. Take a few pitches Yunel. 35 pitches for Blackburn. Drabek can only dream of that in three innings. Bottom 3rd: Mauer, full count, singles past a diving Drabek into centre, another nine pitch at bat. One on for Willingham. 2-2, wild pitch, Mauer to second, when it is going wrong everything goes badly. Grounds to Escobar, looks Mauer back and throw to Lind for the out, that wild pitch cost them a double play. Doumit with one down. Lucky there as he hammers this one high to right but just foul. Drabek escapes this time. Strikes out swinging, two down. Plouffe grounds first pitch to Lawrie throw to Lind. No more runs but 84 pitches. Top 4th: Bautista leading off. Grounds to third, throw to first, one down for Encarnacion. Fouling them off here. Full count, strikes out swinging but it took nine pitches. Thames, two down. full count, Low ball four. Lawrie, with two down and one on, loops it over head of second base into shallow right centre, Thames all the way to third. Two on two down for Rasmus. Way to go Colby, singles to right, Thames scores, Lawrie to third on the play. 2-2 game. No, Rasmus out at on throw from Mastroianni had him picked off and then out of running lane avoiding the tag. Bottom 4th: Parmalee, grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind, one down. Mastroianni, grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind two down. Where was this stuff earlier? Carroll, grounds to Johnson, throw to Lind for third out, and only 13 pitch inning. 97 pitches. Sorry Kyle I think too little too late. Top 5th: Lind, grounds to short and off his glove, Lind safe at first, error to Dozier. Arencibia with one on. Fly ball to left Willingham makes the catch, one down for Johnson. Strikes out swinging. Two down for Escobar. 2-1 count, grounds to Dozier, steps on the bag for third out. Poor Jose left on the on deck circle for second time. Never gets chance to hit with people on base. 72 pitch count. Bottom 5th: Will it be Drabek? Yes, OK John, your call.. Top of the order Span. Full count, Villanueva warming up, should have started the inning. Lines this one off the wall in right, lead off double. Walton out. Why did they now have Villanueva ready to start this one ? One too many for Drabek. No he is staying in there. Crazy call. Dozier, runner at second. Strikes out swinging, two down. Mauer, now here comes Farrell. End of the night for Drabek. One he wants to forget fast. Very lucky it was not a big score. Villanueva pitch gets away and Span to third beats the throw to Lawrie. Full count, inside ball four, nine pitch at bat by Mauer, but sets up the double play, or worse. Willingham, doubles into right. Span scores 3-2 Twins and Willingham at second. Doumit intentional walk to load the bases. Plouffe. One down. 1-2 count, goes after one outside, strikes out. Two down for Parmalee, bases still loaded though. 3-1 no room to put him. Outside ball four. Run scores 4-2 Twins. Bases loaded for Mastroianni, singles up the middle two runs score, who trade that guy? 6-2 Twins. Carroll, grounds to Johnson throw to Lind but horror story. Game is over two hours for five innings, thanks to Drabek. Lots of fans leaving the game, already late. This game will be 2.00am ET before it ends at this rate. Top 6th: Jays hitters need to answer here. Jose to lead off. WOWEEEEEEE lines this one to left and into the seats, HOME RUN for Jose. Second of the night. That is leadership. Whoa... 6-3 Twins. But Jose cannot do it all alone, Encarnacion, ball four. Thames, one on and nobody out. OH YES, drives this one deep to centre and bounces off the top of the wall, home run Thames, 6-5 Twins. Here comes Gardenhire. Tough end for Blackburn, he had pitched very well. Alex Burnett now pitching, Lawrie, singles to right, keeps the line moving, Rasmus. Fly ball to Span in centre for the first out. Lind, with one on and one down, he can really help out here. Strikes out swinging, boo. Two down for Arencibia, this lineup on paper has a lot of power. If only they could all produce. Pops it up to Dozier at short, disappointing end to the inning but Jays are back in this one. Bottom 6th: Joel Carreno now pitching, we have not seen him for a while. Top of the order, Span. Very nice, lines it to third, Lawrie right there to make nice catch, one down. Dozier, bunts right back to Carreno, thank you very much, throw to Lind for second out. Mauer, full count, ball four. One on two down for Willingham. 1-2 count, nice pitch, strikes out swinging. Great pitch. Top 7th: Top of the order for the Jays. Johnson, quiet tonight so far 0-3. Jared Burton now pitching, Johnson strikes out swinging, not his night with the bat at least. Escobar, 0-3 tonight. Pops up to Parmalee for second out. Jose, grounds to Dozier at short, throw to first to end the inning. Bottom 7th: Doumit, ball four, another walk by Jays pitchers. Number nine on the night, must be a record. Komatsu pinch running. Plouffe, fly ball to Thames in left, one down, Parmalee, fly ball to Thames in left getting a workout there, two down, Mastroianni, singles to left and here comes Komatsu to beat throw by Thames and score, 7-5 Twins. Third run for Mastroianni. Showing someone in Jays management what they let get away. Carroll with one two down, grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind for third out. Top 8th: Glen Perkins now pitching. Encarnacion leading off. Hitless tonight. Not this time lines it high to left, home run Edwin. 7-6 Twins. Thames singles first pitch into right. Lawrie, one on and nobody out. Keep it going Brett. Singles to left. Thames stops at second, two on for Rasmus. Showing bunt, what a waste, let the guy hit away. Grounds to first steps on the bag and throw to second, double play, ouch. Thames at third. Ben Francisco pinch hitting for Lind. Midnight at the game 1.00 am in Toronto. Lifts it into shallow left, great diving catch by Willingham robs Franciso of an important tying RBI. Bottom 8th: Top of the order for Twins. Darren Oliver pitching. Span leading off. Francisco in right, Jose at first. Pops it up to left Escobar makes the catch. One down for Dozier, Pops it up to Escobar at short, two down. Mauer, grounds to Escobar covering the bag at second, throw to Jose for the out. Nice eight pitch inning by Oliver. Top 9th: Matt Capps now pitching for the save. One run game. Arencibia leading off. Lots of noisy Canadians out there. JP pops it up to Mauer for the first out. Top of the order Johnson hitless tonight 0-4. Not this time, lines it to first and off the glove of Parmalee for a base hit. Escobar also hitless 0-4 night. Wild pitch way outside and Johnson to second in scoring position. Takes away that double play as well but we don’t want them to walk Jose. Grounds to short, throw to first to get Escobar, Johnson to third but first base is open. Two down. No, they are pitching to him. Pops it up to third for the out. Jays lose this one 7-6 but make it entertaining coming back from a four run deficit. The excellent: Has to be Bautista with his two home runs. Yes Thames had his as well but it was Jose getting the game going in the first to get the lead and then his second home run to get Jays back in the game after giving up four runs in the previous inning. The very good: Thames two run home run to get game closer. Encarnacion adding his home run to close the gap. Not so good: Escobar 0-5 and a double play to take away bat from Jose with two on. Awful, terrible, forget tonight. Drabek. Starting with the first inning lead off walk a nightmare performance even though each inning pitch count came down, it was too little too late. Jays pitchers give up nine walks tonight.