Cecil falls short as bats are silent today and Tigers avoid the sweep

Tigers v Jays. Series finale. Jays incredibly going for a sweep of the Tigers. This team has scratched and clawed its way to within one game of the Rays and Orioles, if they both lose today and Jays win they are all tied up. However and a big however, Tigers will have other thoughts as they are losing ground to the White Sox, plus it is Cecil pitching today. We live in hope. Lineups: Tigers: Jackson, Infante, Cabrera, Fielder, Young, Raburn, Peralta, Boesch, Laird, and Fister pitching. Jays: Davis, Rasmus, Lawrie, Encarnacion, Snider, Escobar, Johnson, Mathis, Gose and Cecil pitching. Cecil weakness giving up the home runs will have to watch out for Cabrera and Fielder or he could have an ugly afternoon. Another huge crowd. Yesterday over 40,000. Top 1st: Jackson, fly ball to Gose, one down. Infante, strikes out swinging, Cabrera full count, ball four, one on for Fielder, not good Brett. Shift right on for Fielder. Two down one on, pops it to shallow right and Lawrie takes it out of glove of Rasmus, that was not a good play by Lawrie. That was Rasmus ball. Don’t sit next to Colby in the dugout. Pitch count 15. Bottom 1st: Davis, singles over the head of Peralta into shallow left. Rasmus, 2-2 count, there goes Davis and throw gets away at second into shallow centre and Davis to third. Full count, grounds to third, here comes Rajai to score, throw to Fielder for the out. SPEED. 1-0 Jays. One down for Lawrie. Bounces to Infante at second, throw to Fielder for second out. Encarnacion, grounds to Cabrera throw to Fielder for the third out. Pitch count 12. Top 2nd: Cecil has a lead to work with. Young, full count, outside ball four, walk number two, not good Brett, playing with fire with this lineup. Raburn. 2-2 count, lucky break here as he lines it hard to left and off the wall, stand up double as Young to third. But nobody out and two in scoring position. Cecil in a mess. Peralta, full count, high fly ball to left and into the bullpen, three run home run. 3-1 Tigers, just like that Cecil gives away the lead, awful. He had better remember that Happ is looking for starting role. Because Cecil is giving a good audition for the bullpen. Still nobody out. Boesch, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging, but only the first out of the inning. Laird, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down for top of the order again. Jackson, full count, high ball four, walk number three. Here comes another walk, by Bruce Walton. Infante, two down one on. Lines it to Rasmus for the third out. Too little too late. One awful performance by Cecil. 51 yes 51 pitches two innings, that is bush league pitching by Cecil and not appreciated by the rest of his teammates. Bottom 2nd: Snider, 1-2 count, takes strike three, one down. Escobar, grounds to Cabrera at third, throw to Fielder for second out. Johnson, full count, takes strike three. Three up and down easy inning for Fister. 25 pitch count, compare that to Cecil at 51. Top 3rd: Cabrera, 0-2 count, grounds to Escobar, throw to Edwin for the out. One down for Fielder. 2-1 count, pops it up to shallow left for Snider to make running catch, two down for Young. Grounds to Lawrie at third throw to Edwin for the out. Much better inning for eight pitch inning, 59 pitch count. Bottom 3rd: Mathis, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down for Gose, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down for top of the order Davis. Grounds slowly to Peralta at short and no throw. Safe at first. Rasmus with two down and one on. 2-2 count, grounds back up the middle into centre, Davis holds at second. Two on for Lawrie. Pops it up to Cabrera at third. Pitch count 43. Top 4th: Raburn, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down. Peralta, high fly ball to Rasmus for the second out. Boesch,1-2 count, strikes out swinging. Pitch count 73. Bottom 4th: Jays needs some runs. Encarnacion leading off. 1-1 count, not enough, lines to right but out at the wall. One down. Snider, 0-2 count, takes strike three. Two down for Escobar. 3-1 count, ball four. One on two down. Johnson, 2-1 count, singles into left, two on two down for Mathis. 2-2 count, grounds to Fielder at first. Pitch count 63. Top 5th: Laird, 0-1 count, pops it up to Encarnacion for the out. One down for Jackson, 0-2 count, singles into left. Infante, one down one on. Singles to right, two on for the big guys. Cabrera, you need some help here Brett. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down. Not out of it yet though with Fielder, two down and two on, first pitch high pop up to Lawrie for Cecil to help himself here. Pitch count 84. He will get to six which was unlikely after two. Bottom 5th: Gose leading off, probably bunting. Yes and foul, singles it back up the middle. Davis now with runner at first. 1-0 count, lines it to Raburn in left, one down. Rasmus, 0-2 count, there goes Gose, and retreats as Rasmus pops it up to Cabrera two down for Lawrie. Two down one on. There he goes again and throw not in time, Gose safe at second. 3-1 count, low ball four, two on two down for Encarnacion. 75 pitches. Here comes the pitching coach. Low ball one, inside ball two. Grounds to Cabrera, throw to Fielder to end this one. Jays 0-4 with runners in scoring position today. Pitch count 78. Top 6th: Young, grounds to Lawrie, great play and throw to Edwin for the out. Raburn, 1-1 count, fly ball to centre but Rasmus runs it down for the out, two down. Peralta, 1-2 count, grounds to Lawrie, throw to Edwin for third out. Ten pitch inning 94 pitch count, may mean another in the seventh at least to get one out. Bottom 6th: Snider, pops it up to shallow left, for Peralta to make the out. One down for Escobar, singles up the middle. One on one down for Johnson, lines it hard to right and Boesch makes a great running catch as he hits the wall. Mathis, two down. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. Seven pitch inning not good hitting by the Jays. 85 pitch count. Top 7th: Boesch, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. One down for Laird, 1-2 count, grounds to Encarnacion, takes it himself to the bag for second out. Jackson, full count, outside ball four. That is it. 109 pitch count for Cecil. Not a good outing by Cecil, let this one get away early after being staked the lead. Carreno now pitching. Infante now, one on, two down. There goes Jackson, throw gets him at second, great throw by Mathis to rescue Cecil from more damage. Bottom 7th: Gose leading off, Kelly in right in place of Boesch. 1-2 count, takes strike three, Gose needs to learn how to drive it the other way instead of pulling everything. One down for Davis. fly ball to centre, two quick outs. Rasmus, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. Easy inning for Fister against these free swinging Jays. Top 8th: Infante, pulls it to Lawrie, throw to Edwin, one down. Cabrera, 1-1 count, pops it up to Gose in shallow right, two down for Fielder. Grounds to Lawrie, throw to Edwin for the third out. Nice inning by Carreno. Bottom 8th: Last chance for Jays now to get something going. Lawrie, in front off the mound throw gets him, one down. Encarnacion, 2-1 count, singles to centre, one on for Snider who has had a terrible game today at bat. All at sea with Fister, 1-2 count, in front of the plate, throw to second to get Edwin and over to first not in time. Snider safe. Two down. Escobar, don’t be a hero Yunel, just a base hit here. 0-2 count, goes around strike three, awful but what we expect from Escobar. Top 9th: Young leading off, 2-2 count, lines to centre, Rasmus makes the out at the wall. One down for Raburn, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down. Peralta, 1-1 count, oh boy, hammers this one to centre and over the wall, second home run today for Peralta, 4-1 Tigers. That is it for Carreno. Crawford now pitching. Kelly, 2-2 count. pops it up to Escobar to end the inning but Tigers are in the driver’s seat for this win. Bottom 9th: Good luck with Valverde. The odds of scoring three against Velvarde are about a million to one. Almost the same to get a hit off him let alone a run. Quite a few fans also agree as they head to their cars. Jays get the series but this one was an important one so close to the wild card. Now they have to start over again on the west coast and that is not as easy as it sounds. Johnson leading off. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging at high ball three. Mathis one down. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down for Gose, this should be interesting, babe in the woods against Godzilla. 1-2 count, grounds to short, throw to first for the out. Jays win the series but do not get the sweep and will lose ground in the wild card, close but not close enough. It will be a long flight to Seattle and don’t look now but Romero is pitching tomorrow. The good: Not much today. Good start by Davis and lots of runner on base. Cecil for six innings. 36,000 attendance. The not so good: Cecil, not just the three run hit by Peralta, he had already walked Young and given up a double to Raburn before facing Peralta. Better to have walked Peralta on the full count and taken chances for double play ball with Boesch. Jays outhit Tigers but only one run means not good with runners in scoring position. 0-4 again today.