Bautista goes deep for number 18 but Jays lose the series to Nationals

Nationals v Jays, Game two of three. Jays having lots of problems with the Nationals, maybe tonight Alvarez can give them something because they will not get it in the finale against Strasbourg. If they lose tonight they could be swept tomorrow and also fall below .500 which is not good at all. The other bad news, Vladdy released from his Jays contract.Not many fans are happy with that news. Brett Cecil promoted to AAA because the realy bad news is that Morrow is on the 15 day DL. Uphill battle for Jays pitching staff now but maybe Romero will smarten up, we can but dream. Lineups: Nationals: Lombardozzi, Harper, Zimmerman, LaRoche, Morse, Desmond, Espinosa, Ankiel, Solano and Wang pitching. Jays: Lawrie, Rasmus, Bautista, Encarnacion, Johnson, Escobar, Cooper, Davis, Mathis and Alvarez pitching. Top 1st: Lombardozzi lines to Rasmus in centre, one down. Harper singles to Bautista, one on. Zimmerman, grounds to Alvarez, throw to Encarnacion, two down. Harper to second on the play. LaRoche pops up to Encarnacion for third out. Pitch count 19 for Alvarez. Bottom 1st: Lawrie, singles to Harper in right. Rasmus, there goes Lawrie and safe on the throw, no he is out, came off the bag after he slid home safe, tough out, two down for Jose, ball four, not giving the poor guy anything to hit again, game plan for Nationals. Encarnacion, wild pitch Jose to second. Now Jose takes third no throw, nice Jose. 2-2 count, grounds to short, throw to first to end the inning. 15 pitch count for Wang. Top 2nd: Morse 2-2 count, trickles into right on the line, flukey hit, with Edwin playing off the bag. One on for Desmond, grounds to Escobar, steps on the bag and throw to first, double play ball. Nice. Espinosa, lines to left over the head of Davis. Stand-up double. Two down one on for Ankiel. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. Nice pitching. 36 pitches Bottom 2nd: Johnson, 2-0 count, grounds to Zimmerman at third, throw to LaRoche at first to get Colby. One down for Escobar, lines to Espinosa, throw to LaRoche for the out. Cooper, 2-2 count, pops it up for Lombardozzi. Pitch count 28. Top 3rd: Solano, grounds to the left of short, great play by Escobar, throw to Encarnacion for the out, great play Yunel. One down for Lombardozzi. Full count. Grounds to Encarnacion throw to Alvarez, two down. Harper, first pitch hammers it to centre, home run, why are they not walking the guy? Nationals are doing it to Jose most of the time. Three walks already this series. 1-0 Nationals. Zimmerman, 0-2 strike out looking on three pitches. Next time walk Harper. Pitch count 48. Bottom 3rd: Davis, swings at ball one and takes strike two. That’s our Rajai. Strikes out swinging. Mathis, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down for Lawrie. Hits him, sure. Wang is an ex-Yankee, I wonder if Jays hit Harper what would they say? Rasmus, two down one on. 2-0 count, Wang has lost the strike zone now. Three in a row including the hit on Lawrie. Four in a row, 3-0 count. Colby gives him one. Lines to Harper in right, throw not in time to get Lawrie. Harper throw off target, Brett in standing up. Bautista, full count, way outside, walk number four for Jose in two games. Encarnacion with bases loaded, make them pay Edwin. Here comes the pitching coach. 1-2 count. strikes out looking. 54 pitch count for Wang, ouch a 26 pitch inning. Top 4th: LaRoche, 2-1 count, drives it to right centre, double for LaRoche. One on for Morse. 2-2 count, lines it Lawrie at third, looks LaRoche back and throw to first for the out. Nice play Brett. Desmond, full count, swings at a pitch way outside, two down. Espinosa hammer this one to centre. Home run and two more runs score. 3-0 Nationals. Ankiel grounds to Johnson on first pitch to Encarnacion but damage is done. 67 pitch count. Bottom 4th: Jays need to get some of those hits counting. Johnson leading off. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. Escobar, first pitch grounds to second to Espinosa, throw to first two down. Cooper, 3-0 count. Ball four. One on for Davis. way inside, five balls in a row, seems to lose it occasionally. Six in a row. Seven, ball four a two walks in a row. Eight balls. Not good. But Jays have to make something of it. Mathis. Ball one, here’s a strike, another ball outside, 2-2 count, takes strike three, guessed wrong there Jeff, leaves two more on. 73 pitch count. Top 5th: Solano singles to Rasmus in centre. Lombardozzi, need ground ball here Henderson. Singles to Bautista in right, now he is in trouble. Harper two on and nobody out. 2-1 count, grounds to Encarnacion throw to second to get Lombardozzi, back to Edwin, no chance for two. One down two on for Zimmerman, there we go grounds to Escobar, to Johnson over to Edwin double play ball. Perfect. Pitch count 80. Bottom 5th: Lawrie, 3-1 count, 39 balls on 75 pitches ouch...control. Ball four to walk Lawrie. Walk number five for Wang, could be why Yankees let him go. Rasmus, Another ball, now out comes the coach. Grounds to Espinosa at second, no chance to get Lawrie at second, speed. Throw to first to get Rasmus, one down but runner in scoring position, Bautista, if they pitch to him. Almost hits him 1-0, way outside ball two, sorry Jose. 2-1 count, way inside, 3-1 count, high and inside BUT Jose hammers this one, and that is hitting friends. That pitch was ball way high. 3-2 Nationals. Number 18 for Jose. Encarnacion come on Edwin, nobody out. 2-2 count, hammer it high to left but dies in the track, almost Edwin, two down, Johnson. Singles to left, keeps it going here. Escobar, please not first pitch Yunel. Not with this guys control. Grounds to Espinosa fumbles it but still time to throw Yunel out at first. Jays get two back. Can Alvarez hold them now? 95 pitches for Wang but only 48 strikes and there is his problem, tonight at least. Top 6th: LaRoche fly ball to Davis in left, one down. Morse, grounds to Johnson, throw to Edwin, two down. Desmond, grounds to Escobar, throw high to Edwin at first for third out. Whoa five pitch inning. 85 pitch count. Bottom 6th: Ross Detwiler now pitching. Cooper, first pitch, fly ball to centre for the out. Not good David. Davis, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. Mathis. Fly ball to centre for three quick outs. Not good at all by the bottom of the order. May see all three changes tomorrow. Top 7th: Espinosa, full count, grounds to Escobar, throw to Edwin, one down. Ankiel, grounds to Johnson, throw to Encarnacion two down. Solano, 0-2 count. NOT good. Leaves it up and hammers it over the wall in left. Not good at all to number nine, first major league home run for Solano. Lombardozzi, 2-2 count, pops it up to Rasmus for third out. 4-2 Nationals. Pitch count 101 and that will be it probably for Alvarez. Too bad as he had been in a groove the last two innings, one mistake. Bottom 7th: Top of the order for Jays. Lawrie. Detwiler pitching. 2-1 count, lines it to right Harper makes the catch. One down for Rasmus. 3-1 count, hammers this one but just dies at the track in right for Harper, whoa that looked good. Two down. That is it for Detwiler, lucky guy as well with those first two outs. They were hit very hard, on Sunday in Atlanta they dropped in, tonight not so lucky. Craig Stammen now pitching. Bautista, 2-0 count, does anyone pitch anymore to Jose? 2-2 count, that will do as Jose lines it into left, stand up double. Nice night for Jose. Encarnacion now, have to bring him in Edwin. That was the pitch Edwin, takes it. Strike one. Ouch. Full count, high fly ball to centre, just misses as it dies on the track again. Bottom line however is that Edwin is getting that stroke back after his injury and that is good news. Another game and he will have two home runs. Be patient Edwin. Top 8th: Harper leading off, will they walk him? Darren Oliver now pitching. Bunting to first, spins away from Edwin and Harper on base again. Error given to Edwin. Zimmerman, there goes Harper, they have him picked off, nice play as he slides into the tag. Very nice. One down 1-1 count, I think teams will start to do that as soon as Harper gets on base, pitch out or wait and catch him. 2 -2 count takes strike three, two down. LaRoche, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. Nice inning by Oliver yet again. Bottom 8th: Sean Burnett now pitching. Johnson, grounds to first, Johnson hesitates and too late now as LaRoche throws to Burnett for the out, have to hustle Kelly even if you think it foul. Escobar, not a good night for Yunel tonight with the bat. Pops it up to Espinosa at second, two down for Arencibia, pinch hitting for Cooper. Pops it up to short for third out. Top 9th: Boston winning 2-1, Baltimore 8-2, Yankees tied with Atlanta 4-4 and Tampa losing to the Mets 4-2. All still in progress. Frasor now pitching. Morse leading off. 2-2 count, pops it up to Encarnacion, one down. Desmond, full count, outside ball four. One on one down for Espinosa, 1-0 count, Bruce Walton out there. Evan Crawford warming up in bullpen. 3-0 count, could be your last hitter Jason. There goes Desmond, 3-1 count. Safe at second. Full count. strikes him out, nice pitch Jason. Two down. But that is the end of your night. Crawford to face Ankiel with two down and runner in scoring position. Full count, grounds to Edwin takes it himself for the out. Bottom 9th: Jays need two but bottom of the order guys to try to get on base. Tyler Clippard now pitching to save. Davis leading off. Patience Rajai. Outside ball one. 2-1 count, knocks him down, way up and in, nasty. Full count, strikes out swinging at ball four. One down for Omar Vizquel, pops it up to short, two down. Lawrie, just get on base Brett. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. Jays lose the series and in great danger of being swept tomorrow because they will be facing Nationals best pitcher in Strasbourg and sending Drabek against him ? I would not guess the odds on that one. And currently at .500 they could drop below which will not be good at all. The excellent: Nothing much tonight apart from Jose home run number 18, two hits and two walks tonight as Nationals try not to pitch to him. That was it. Jays 1-5 with runners in scoring position. Same old problem.