Jays erupt with season high 18 hit 12-4 win despite poor outing by Romero

Jays v Braves. Series finale. Jays have already lost this series and are fighting for respectability and avoiding a sweep today. Lots to fight for and not just avoding the sweep. Romero despite his record has hardly been the ace of the staff for most of the season. A good outing today will help in that respect. But the problem right now is not just pitching. The hitting or lack of and specifically with runners in scoring position is a huge issue. Bautista the one and only exception this weekend. Arencibia, Lawrie, Johnson, Rasmus have all been missing somewhere. Braves pitcher today is Julio Teheran from AAA and his first major league start so you know he will give the Jays a rough time. Rough weather forecast thus they would love a good lead by six innings. Jays: Lawrie, Rasmus, Bautista, Encarnacion, Johnson, Escobar, Cooper, Arencibia, and Romero pitching and hitting. Braves: Bourn, Prado, Jones, Uggla, Diaz, Freeman, Ross, Simmons, Teheran pitching and hitting. Top1st: Lawrie, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. Rasmus, first pitch high fly ball to centre for second out. Bautista, full count, takes strike three. Pitch count 11. Bottom 1st: Bourn, pops up to Escobar at short. One down for Prado. Grounds to Lawrie, throw to Cooper playing at first today, two down, Chipper Jones back off the DL. Bounces back to the mound, Romero makes nice athletic play here to field and throw to Cooper to help himself and end the inning. 11 pitches. Top 2nd: Encarnacion playing in left field today. 2-2 count, loops it into shallow left for a single as his bat shatters. One on for Johnson, raining hard now. Braves don’t mind it is rained out, they already have the series. Plus it is a lot worse for Jays to have come for one game later in season. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down one on for Escobar. 2-0 count, lines it to Diaz in right for the catch. Two down for Cooper. Pops it up to Jones at third. Pitch count 27. Bottom 2nd: Uggla, hits him on the foot. Leaf off guy is on base. Diaz, lines it to right behind Bautista to the wall, Uggla to third and Braves have two in scoring position with nobody out. Romero in big trouble early. Freeman, fly ball to Rasmus in centre and oh NO he drops it as he was transferring ball from the glove, oh boy .. here comes Uggla to score, error to Rasmus. One down but Uggla scores, he had held at third on the catch was not coming home until Colby dropped the ball. 1-0 Braves. Diaz to third. Ross first pitch lines it to left. Diaz scores 2-0 Braves. Ross at first. Simmons, 2-2 count, grounds to Lawrie, throw to Cooper two down as Ross moves to second. Teheran the pitcher. Grounds under the glove of Romero to Escobar, throw to Cooper for the out. BUT Braves strike first and he way Jays have been hitting two runs might be enough to win this game. 29 pitches. Top 3rd: Arencibia leading off. Long overdue for a good hit. 1-2 count, takes strike three, does not agree, he is just in a bad slump. Romero, grounds to first, Freeman throw to Teheran for the second out. Lawrie, 2-1 count, fly ball to Prado. Easy three outs for Teheran. These Jays hitters are awful, we will start to see their frustration building soon. 38 pitches for three innings by Teheran. Bottom 3rd: Bourn lines first pitch to left, stand up double. Will he steal third and Arencibia throw it away again? Prado, 2-0 count, oh boy, bunts and Romero throws it wide of Johnson to pull him off first. When things go wrong they really go wrong for these hapless Jays. Two on nobody out and Bourn at third. Jones, grounds to Escobar, over to Johnson on to Cooper double play ball but Broun scirse thiurd run. That is all Braves want. Two down for Uggla. Loops it into left, one on two down for Diaz. Singles to right, two on two down, four hits this inning, Romero is terrible. No action in the bullpen yet, Farrell is probably in shock. Freeman, almost hit him inside. 2-0 count, in danger of loading the bases here. Singles to left, another run scores 4-0 Braves. Now Walton out there, too late today, seven hits already. Ross, 2-0, Roemro unable to throw strikes now. 3-0 count, one more to load the bases. There‘s a strike as Ross lets it go. Full count. low but umpire calls it a strike to help Romero here. Maybe had sympathy for Ricky. 46 pitches. Top 4th: Jays have a mountain to climb here based on their current poor hitting. We shall see if they want to get to the airport and back to home cooking or make a fight of a rookie pitcher. Character time. Rasmus to start. 2-0 fly ball to centre for the first out. Bautista, lifts it to Diaz in right three pitches two outs. Encarnacion, pops it up to Uggla at second, five pitches for the inning. Not good. Pitch count 43. Bottom 4th: Simmons leading off. Grounds to Lawrie, throw to Cooper for the out. One down for Teheran. Almost hit him, that would be the final straw for Romero. 3-0 count, on the pitcher ??? Takes strike one to help Ricky out here, ball four, oh wow, rock bottom for Ricky today. Top of the order Bourn, 2-0, he is just out of this game here.31 strikes 24 balls 3-0 count, Bourn takes it to help him out. 3-1 count, high ball four, two on, Prado. 0-2 count, singles up the middle to load the bases. Jones, 2-0 count, bounces in front of the mound, Romero throw home to get Teheran, two down bases still loaded. Uggla, 1-2 count, lines it to Escobar for the out. Romero luck changes. Pitch count 69. Ugh. Top 5th: Johnson leading off. So far all this game is all Braves. 0-2 count, fouling them off here but unable to make them count. Seven pitches more than the whole last inning. Now he singles it to right center, good start. Eight pitch at bat for Kelly. Someone is trying. Escobar, 3-0 count, inside ball four, is that the first time Jays have two hitters on base this weekend? Seems like it. Two on for Cooper. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. One down for Arencibia, full count, singles to Bourn in centre. Bases loaded. Gomes pinch hitting for Romero. 1-2 count, fouling them off but we need hits here. That will do singles to left, good at bat by Gomes, Johnson scores, 4-1 Braves. Escobar had to wait to see if ball was caught. Bases still loaded for Lawrie. That is it for Teheran but he outpitched Romero today, not bad for an emergency start for rookie minor league pitcher. Livan Hernandez now pitching. Lawrie hitkess today. Loops it into right, here comes Escobar, 4-2 Braves. Bases stay loaded. Rasmus, he owes Romero. Singles to right and here comes Arencibia followed by Gomes and this game is all tied up 4-4. Colby redeems himself here. Bautista now can really blow this one open. Two on one down. Singles to centre, Lawrie scores, 5-4 Jays. WOW !!! Encarnacion, Romero wishes he were still pitching. Runners at first and second, lines it to the wall, and here comes Rasmus to score 6-4 Jays. Double for Edwin. Johnson, started this off. Two in scoring position. Pops it up to short for second out. Escobar runners at second and third. Just a base hit here Yunel. Full count. Pops it up to short to end the inning. Jays break out finally. Bottom 5th: Villanueva now pitching, Diaz leading off. 2-0 come on Carlos, strikes man. That’s better, fly ball to Encarnacion in left. Freeman lines to right and just beats throw by Jose at second. Ross, 1-2 strikes out swinging. Two down. Simmons, full count, OH WHAT A CATCH !!! lines this high to left and Edwin the man makes a fine running backhand catch at the wall, yes the very same Edwin who had such a miserable time in the field last season. Saves the day here. Top 6th: Cooper, high pop up to Diaz in shallow right, one down. Arencibia, drives it to right for Diaz again, two down. Villanueva hitting. 1-2, lines it into centre, base hit for Carlos. Big grins all round. Lawrie. THATS more like it drives it to left seats and out of here, 8-4 Jays. WOWeee. Brett gave Carlos a break there without having to stay on the bases and/or run base to base. Rasmus, 2-2 count, WOWEEEE he hammers this rocket to right and into the seats, typical Rasmus sweet swing, home run all the way. 9-4 Jays. Back to back. Bautista, 2-1 count, grounds to third, throw to first for the out but Jays add three more. Bottom 6th: Villanueva still out there to soak up some innings. Davis in left, Edwin at first. Francisco Grounds to Johnson, throw to Villanueva who was stepped on by Francisco, one down. Bourn, slow bouncer to Escobar, no chance for a throw. Prado, 1-1 count, grounds to Lawrie, throw to first to get Prado, no chance to get Bourn. Jones with two down and runner in scoring position. 2-0 count. Bourn takes third. 3-0. Put him on Carlos. Low ball four. Two on two down for Uggla, 2-0 count, come on Carlos. Frasor now working in bullpen. 3-1 count, perfect grounds it to Villanueva throw to Encarnacion for third out. Top 7th: Christian Martinez now pitching. Encarnacion leading off. 2-3 today, his stroke coming back after his injury. 2-2 count, singles back up the middle, 3-4 today. Johnson, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. One down for Escobar, full count, singles to left centre. Edwin to third. Rajai Davis, singles to right, here comes Edwin and Jays have double figures 10-4 Jays. Escobar at third. Arencibia, fly ball to Diaz, here comes the throw Escobar scores 11-4 Jays. Two down. Omar Vizquel now pinch hitting for Villlanueva. He singles to right, Davis all the way to third on the throw. Lawrie, 2-2 count, takes strike three but Jays get two more. Bottom 7th: Darren Oliver now pitching. Diaz, pops it up to first great catch by Edwin at the wall. One down for Freeman, full count. Strikes out swinging, two down. Ross, full count, low ball four. Simmons, 3-1, come on Darren, making tough work of this last out. Full count, strikes out looking, that low strike zone again but Jays not complaining. Top 8th: Rasmus leading off 0-2 count, drubs it to right centre, stand upo double, three hits, home run, single and double. Bautista up the middle but great play by Wilson and Rasmus caught between bases and tagged out. Encarnacion also has a three hit day. One out one on. 2-2- count, strikes out swinging, two down. Johnson, oh yes, very nice Kelly, drives it to right centre all the way to the wall and here comes Jose 12-4 Jays with Kelly to third for his first triple of season. Escobar, chance for another RBI Yunel. 1-2 count, no grounds to second, throw to first for the out. Jays add another. Bottom 8th: Chad Beck now pitching. McCoy in for Johnson at second. Francisco, 1-2 count, singles to Bautista in right. Bourn with one on, drives it to right, Oh WOW great diving catch by Jose in right, great highlight reel catch. Prado fly ball to right centre, OH wow another great catch by Colby, lines it to right centre and Rasmus robs Prado of a double. Two down for ex-Jays Hinske. Grounds to McCoy throw to Edwin for the out. Beck gives big thanks to Jose and Colby. Top 9th: Durbin finishing off. Davis leading off. Bounces to short, throw to first, one down. Arencibia, 1-2 count, strikes out looking. Two down for McCoy, full count, singles to left, Lawrie one on two down. 3-1 count, outside ball four, two on for Rasmus. Colby needs a triple for the cycle. Robbed by Freeman as he lashes it to first, Freeman makes the out, nice catch by Freeman. Bottom 9th: Casey Janssen now pitching has not pitched on the roadtrip. Needs some work here. Wilson lines to McCoy for the out. Diaz, 2-2 count, nice lay Edwin, grounds to short, throw to first Edwin stays on the bag for the out, nice play Edwin. Two down for Freeman. 0-2 count, singles to centre, keeps it going. Ross, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. Jays win huge as the bats finally break out and stop the losing streak at three. The excellent: How about 18 hits, home runs for Lawrie and Rasmus, three hits for Lawrie and Rasmus. Defensive plays great catches by outfield Edwin Jose and Colby all three. RISP how about 7-14, long time since that type of damage by this team and after going 1-19 they were due. 11 hits for the top five in the order. Five huits and six RBIs for 1-2 in the order today. Probably saved their positions today. The good: Top of the order doing the damage today. The not so good: Romero yet again another bad outing. Eight hits, four runs, two walks in only four innings. An early shower for Ricky. But unfortunately he raises more questions than answers. Too bad that the run outburst happened too late for him but he had dug a deep hole for the Jays hitters.