Jays end the losing streak but lose another pitcher as they shutout the Phillies

Phillies v Jays. Game one of three. Interleague continues. What is wrong with everyone? Around Toronto these days all we hear is people jumping off the bandwagon, the season is over, the sky is falling. I definitely do not agree. In this division the standings change weekly and the Jays are far from finished in mid-June. Losing Drabek as far as I am concerned is no great loss. He was not pitching well and the recall of Cecil may well prove to be an even better bet and improvement of the rotation. But the problems are not just the pitching, the lack of major run support is hurting this team just as much as lack of pitching. Bautista and Rasmus are probably the only two who have been hitting with any consistency over the last few weeks. Some, sorry, many of the others in the lineup need to produce. Very disappointed in Arencibia, Cooper, Johnson and Escobar. Lawrie is showing some positive signs justifying continuing the 1-2 experiment at the top with Rasmus. Encarnacion at least has an excuse with his wrist injury and is still not back to normal but then again he always has been a streaky hitter in the past and can get hot at any time. This series more inter-league and Jays are catching the Phillies when they too are struggling at the bottom of their division. Opportunity for Jays to at least take two of three this weekend and start the upward climb. Lineups: Phillies: Rollins, Pierre, Pence, Thome, Victorino, Ruiz, Wigginton, Fontenot, Martinez and Vance Worley pitching Jays: Lawrie, Rasmus, Bautista, Encarnacion, Johnson, Escobar, Cooper, Arencibia, Davis and Hutchison pitching. Top 1st: Rollins, grounds to Johnson, throw to Cooper at first for the out. I always feel better when Rollins is out. Pierre, one down. 0-2 strikes out swinging, very nice Drew. Two down for Pence. NO, Hutchison steps off and calls the trainer, he is injured. He is walking off. Oh boy, three in a row this week. That is unbelievable. Aaron Laffey now pitching. Whoa. Three of the starting rotation now injured. This is crazy. Nine pitches !!! full count, Ball four. Thome, two down one on. Lines to Lawrie playing shift right, throw to Cooper for third out. Bottom 1st: This is where the offence has to come through and give a boost to the pitching. Get a few runs on the board this inning. Lawrie, grounds to Fontenot at third, throw to Wigginton at first, one down for Rasmus. Lines it hard to centre but Victorino makes the catch. Two down for Bautista, full count, ball four, yet another walk for Jose. Encarnacion, 0-2 count, there goes Jose, throw gets him at second. Top 2nd: Victorino, fly ball to Rasmus in centre, Ruiz, one down. Lines to Davis in left, one on one down for Wigginton. Need a ground ball here Aaron. 3-1 count, low ball four, two on. Fontenot, full count, fly ball to Davis in left, two down. Martinez, 1-2 count, grounds to Johnson at second throw to Cooper. Laffey doing the job but not easy 32 pitches already for four outs. Give the guy some run support, lots of it. Bottom 2nd: Encarnacion left on base last inning. Grounds back to Worley, throw to first, one down. Johnson, 2-2 count, grounds back up the middle wakes up the crowd. One on one down for Escobar. There goes Johnson but Yunel fouls it off. 2-2 count, grounds to short, over to second, on to first, another double play from Escobar. Top 3rd: Villanueva ??? now pitching. Ok John, I thought Laffey could pitch more than two. Rollins, grounds to Cooper at first, diving to save that one and throw to Villanueva for first out. Nice play. Pierre, grounds to Cooper, takes it himself for the out, two down for Pence. Lines to left Davis throw almost gets him Pence safe at second. Thome, runner at second. Shift right, full count, ball four. Two on for Victorino. 0-2 count, pops it up to Arencibia for third out. Jays pitchers making it tough each inning. Bottom 3rd: Can anyone hit on this team tonight? Bottom third of the order. Cooper leading off. Has cooled of a lot since he started the season. 3-1 count, pops it up to left for Pierre to make the out. Arencibia, pops it up to Martinez in shallow right, two down for Davis. Lines it hard to left, off the top of the wall. Stand up double for Rajai, Lawrie, 1- 2 count, lines opposite field hit high to right bounces of wall half way up as Davis scores 1-0 Jays. Stand up double for Lawrie. Rasmus, 1-2 count, takes strike three. Jays get going first here. Top 4th: Ruiz leading off. Full count, outside ball four. Wigginton, 1-2 count, strikes out as he cannot hold up his swing. One down for Fontenot, great curve ball, 0-2, perfect grounds to Cooper steps on the bag and throw to Escobar at second, double play ball. Bottom 4th: Bautista, 0-2 count, lines it the other way into right, leadoff single. Encarnacion, lines it to third, throw to second is wild and all the way to right field corner here comes Jose all the way from first. 2-0 Jays, and Edwin to third on the error. Johnson now with runner at third. Nobody out. 1-2 count, oh boy takes strike three, awful. Come on Kelly. Escobar, one down. 2-0 we don’t need a walk here Yunel. 3-1, that’s better bounces it to short, here comes Edwin 3-0 Jays as Escobar out on the Rollins throw to first, two down. Cooper, 2-2 count, terrible takes strike three. Not good David. One run for three outs. That was not very good hitting by the Jays. Johnson, and Cooper. Top 5th: Martinez, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down for Rollins, 3-1 count, pops it up and drops in between Lawrie and Escobar down the third base line, stand up double for Rollins, Pierre, lines to Davis in left, two down for Pence.1-2 count, pops it up to Bautista for third out. Bottom 5th: Arencibia, takes strike three, one down. Davis, full count, ball four, Rajai walks, Lawrie. One down. There goes Rajai, Lawrie foul tip and no throw. 1-2 count. Pops it to first, for the out. No chance for Rajai to move up. Rasmus, two down one on. Grounds it to first, Wigginton takes it himself. Jays are not making the most of their chances here and may regret it later in this game. Top 6th: Jason Frasor now warming up in bullpen. Villanueva at 50 pitch count. Thome, 0-2 count, takes strike three. Victorino, takes strike three, two down for Ruiz. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging to end the inning. Very nice pitching Carlos. Bottom 6th: Jays have been threatening to blow this game open for last two innings, can they do it this time? Bautista leading off. Brian Schneider now catching for Ruiz. Fly ball to Victorino in centre. Encarnacion, 2-2 count, high strike out. Edwin does not like that but umpire has been calling it all night. Two down for Johnson, 0-2 count, grounds to Rollins and safe at first on the play, no throw. Escobar, grounds back to Worley throw to first for the out. Top 7th: Frasor now pitching. Wigginton, fly ball to Rasmus in centre, one down. Fontenot, 2-2 count, nice pitch freezes Fontenot for the out. Two down for Martinez, full count, misses ball four. One on two down for Rollins. Darren Oliver working in bullpen. 1-2 count, lines to Johnson playing shallow right throw to Frasor covering first for the third out. Bottom 7th: Cooper leading off. Worley still out there at 93 pitches. 3-1 count, fly ball to Victorino, one down for Arencibia. 3-1 count, lines it to Victorino in centre, two down for Davis. Grounds to third, throw to first to end a quick inning. Jays hitters owe this lead to that error by Fontenot. Top 8th: Darren Oliver now pitching. Pierre leading off. 0-2 count, singles into centre, one on for Pence. Lines it at Johnson throw to Cooper, but Pierre dives back in time to avoid doubling up. One down, Thome, 3-1 count, fly ball to Rasmus in centre, two down for Victorino. There goes Pierre, throw in time but umpire says no way, Johnson does not agree. Here comes Farrell to argue. 1-2 count, OUCH, hits him on the hand. Two on two down for Schneider, double steal, throw to second high and called safe, Farrell out there again. Still no joy. 1-2 count, strikes him out looking. Great pitch Darren. Bottom 8th: It would be nice to get a couple more insurance runs here. Top of the order to do it as well. Michael Schwimer now pitching. Lawrie leading off. 2-2 count, drives it to the wall in centre, stand up double. But they have to bring him in. Rasmus, swinging away, full count, oh no no no. Lawrie going Rasmus strikes out throw to third, double play ball, wow that hurts. I thought they were holding Lawrie after the last time he did that. Bautista. Lines it to left for the out. That was one horrible inning. I hope that does not come back to haunt them tonight. Top 9th: Janssen now pitching. Bottom of the order, Wigginton. 2-1 count, fly ball to Bautista in right, one down for Fontenot. 1-2 count, bounces wide of Johnson, makes a great play but throw not in time. One on one down for Polanco pinch hitting for Martinez. 0-2 count, bounces to Escobar, flip to Johnson who is taken out by Fontenot slide, two down for Rollins pops up first pitch to Rasmus in shallow centre to end this one. Jays win their first and break that losing slide. The very good: Jays bullpen tonight shutout Phillies bats after losing their starter Hutchison after only nine pitches. That was impressive. Davis and Lawrie with their doubles off the wall both of which just missed going out. The not so good: 1-7 runners in scoring position for the Jays. Lawrie thrown out at third stealing and back end of double play with Bautista on deck. Tampa, Baltimore and Yankees all winning but still in progress. Red Sox lost earlier to the Cubs so the Jays back to .500 and in fourth position. One game at a time.