Jays win Indians series with gutsy pitching performance from Villanueva

Indians v Jays. Final game of series. Sunday July 15th. Jay have chance to win the series today against strong team. Villanueva v Lowe. On paper favours Cleveland. News of Santos shoulder surgery announced before the game. I guess that means Casey is the closer now for rest of the season. Most fans can live with that the way he has been pitching the first half. Lineups: Cleveland: Choo, Cabrera, Kipnis, Hafner, Santana, Brantley, Kotchman, Damon, Hannahan and Lowe pitching. Jays: Lawrie, Rasmus, Bautista, Encarnacion, Lind, Escobar, Johnson, Francisco, Arencibia and Villanueva pitching. Davis sitting and long overdue in a horrible 0-24 slump. Note Snider hit another home run last night for Vegas. But I doubt we will see Travis until September if then, meantime Francisco gets a chance to show off his talents. Top 1st: Where is everybody ??? Stadium very empty for a Sunday and after two great 32,000 plus crowds this weekend. Seats behind me are empty and there are large sections in 100 level empty. Roof is closed storms are forecast outside but makes it hot and humid inside. Choo leading off, strikes out swinging, good start. Cabrera singles to right to Bautista. One on one down for Kipnis, wild pitch just in front of Arencibia but he cannot find it at first, and Cabrera to second. Kipnis ball four, two on one down for Hafner, fly ball to left Francisco makes the out. Two down for Santana, strikes out swinging. Nice inning for Villanueva. Bottom 1st: Lawrie, strikes out, Rasmus grounds to Kotchman at first, two down. Bautista grounds to Hannahan at third, throw to Kotchman and Jays go quietly in the first. Top 2nd: Brantley, lines to centre, stand up double. One on for Kotchman, fly ball to Bautista, Brantley tags and beats the throw from Jose because Escobar cuts it off, that may have had a chance Yunel, Jose threw a bullet. Damon with runner at 3rd and only one out. Damon pops it up to Johnson, two down. Hannahan strikes out swinging, throw to Edwin for the out. Two innings in the books for Carlos. Every inning is a plus. Bottom 2nd: Encarnacion high fly ball to Brantley in centre, one down. Edwin just got under that or that would have gone a mile again. Lind, grounds back to Lowe, throw to Kotchman at first, two down. Escobar, grounds to Cabrera, throw to Kotchman to end the inning. Top 3rd: Choo grounds to Encarnacion at first, one down. Cabrera, just misses going out in left here with rocket to left barely foul, Villanueva avoided a bullet there, strikes out, two down. Villanueva is really slowing the game with very deliberate pitches, makes Frasor look fast. Arencibia not helping with constant visits to the mound. Kipnis lines it hard back at Villanueva, Carlos puts out his glove and the ball sticks, great ending to the inning, reflex action but great catch. Bottom 3rd: Johnson, nice at bat, ball four, very patient Kelly, he really worked that count. Francisco, there goes Kelly and steals second Santana throw gets away and Kelly to third on the error. I love the aggressiveness; Kelly tries to get the edge anyway he can, runner at third and nobody out, surely a run here. Francisco strikes out swinging. Arencibia, there we go singles to Brantley in centre, here comes Kelly to score first run. He earned that. 1-0 Jays. Lawrie with one on, grounds to Hannahan throw to Kotchman at first, two down. Arencibia moves up to second on the play. Rasmus, there we go Colby, lines it to Brantley in centre, here comes Arencibia, 2-0 Jays. Rasmus hit was almost a golf swing, he really went after that low pitch and hit it inches off the ground. Colby has been hitting well this series without much luck as at least two outs have been very hard hits but right at a fielder. Bautista, Jose singles to Damon in left, Rasmus to 3rd. Here comes the coach to calm down Lowe or more like it strategise. Encarnacion there goes Jose and takes second, strange steal as it now leaves first open if they want to put Edwin on. Ball four. Hmmmm. I wonder. Bases loaded. Lind, pitching him away, and ball four, here comes Rasmus 3-0 Jays. But I wonder, Escobar now at bat with bases loaded, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging on three pitches. Easier out than Lind. A Lind single would score at least two. Escobar meantime is a much better bet for an out. Top 4th: Hafner, grounds to Johnson, throw to Edwin one down. Santana, the shift right on and there he does it, Santana bunts to left and nobody there. We mentioned this yesterday when the Indians popped up an easy out with nobody at third. It did not hurt them yesterday, today may be a different story. Farrell should know that teams will adjust, will be interesting to see if he does it with Ortiz in Boston this week. Brantley, pops it up to Escobar, one down. Kotchman ball four and two on one down. Villanueva again in trouble. Damon, strikes out swinging. Villanueva escapes this time. Bottom 4th: Johnson leading off, lines first pitch hard to left but right at Damon for the out, Francisco, strikes out swinging. Arencibia, two down, fly ball to Brantley in centre. Three up and down for Lowe. Top 5th: Hannahan, ball four, leadoff walk. It has not been easy for Villanueva today, he has been slowing the game down as well to try to make the pitches. Choo with one on, strikes out swinging, one down. Cabrera, grounds to first, Edwin steps on the bag, throw to Escobar at second double play ball, perfect ending. Bottom 5th: Lawrie, grounds to Cabrera at short, throw to Kotchman, one down. Rasmus, lines it hard to Brantley at centre but for the out. Bautista, strikes out swinging, not a good at bat by Jose. Top 6th: Kipnis leading off, grounds to Johnson, throw to Edwin, one down. Hafner, strikes out swinging, two down. Santana, ball four. Brantley, one down one on, another ball four, Carols must be tiring, it is very hot in here with the roof closed and the crowd has grown since the start which does not help the humidity level. Here comes Bruce Walton, hang in there Carlos, one more out. 100 pitch count which is really stretching Villanueva. Kotchman, strikes out swinging. That will be it for Villanueva; he should be pleased with that outing. Bottom 6th: Encarnacion leading off, Lowe pitching around Edwin again, getting respect after yesterday’s two home run game. Lind, oh dear, grounds to Kipnis at second, throw to the bag over to Kotchman, double play ball. That hurts. Escobar, grounds to Hannahan at third, throw to Kotchman to end the inning. Lowe has pitched as well if not better than Villanueva. One poor inning. Top 7th: Fraser now pitching. Damon, fly ball to Bautista in right. Jose runs in hard to make the catch almost in the infield. Hannahan strikes out swinging, two down. Top of the order Choo, singles to Bautista in right. Two down one on for Cabrera, grounds weakly up the first base line, Fraser grabs and tags him for third out. Cabrera arguing with umpire that he was blocked by Fraser, but no good. Good inning for Frasor. Bottom 7th: Sidearmer Joe Smith now pitching for Lowe. Johnson, strikes out swinging, one down. Francisco, there we go Ben, lines to Choo in right, stand up double. Davis now in pinch running for Francisco. Arencibia, there goes Rajai and oh dear, he is picked off, they knew it was coming. That is not good by Rajai with only one out and in scoring position. Now two outs and nobody on. Arencibia, strikes out swinging. Top 8th: Davis stays in left. Oliver now pitching. Kipnis, lines it to Escobar, throw to Edwin just in case umpire calls safe. Hafner, pops it up to Encarnacion at first, two down. Santana, fly ball to centre for Rasmus to make the catch. Three up and down for Oliver, six pitches. Oliver excellent as usual. Bottom 8th: Lawrie leading off, pops it up to Cabrera at short one down. Rasmus, fly ball to Choo in right, two down. Bautista fly ball to right and bounces over the walk, ground rule double for Jose. Encarnacion with runner at second. Grounds to Hannahan at third, throw to Kotchman at first to leave Jose out there. Top 9th: Oliver still out there, after only six pitches in his last inning Farrell can gamble with good odds here on Oliver. Better than the alternative ads we see sign up Cordero warming up in bullpen, horrors, come on Darren. Brantley, fly ball to centre but over head of Rasmus, stand up double to lead off, ouch. Kotchman, grounds to Lawrie, throw to Edwin for the first out. Duncan pinch hitting for Damon, grounds to Escobar at shirt, throw to Edwin, two down. Jose Lopez inch hitting for Hannahan, grounds to Escobar, this should do it, throw to Edwin for the out and the win. Jays win 3-0 and win the series. Now head to New York with that wild card still in sight depending on Orioles result this afternoon. Announced crowd at 26,000, it is much smaller than the first two games, strange for a Sunday. The excellent: Today has to be Villanueva, not an easy outing, he walked five, but he made the pitches when he needed. Indians went 0-10 with runners in scoring position and he had a lot to do with it. I would also rank Kelly Johnson today for his performance. It was his walk and stolen base that started the runs in the 3rd. The Jays bullpen of Frasor and Oliver today kept Indians off the scoreboard. Not so good: Escobar out with bases loaded. Rajai Davis getting picked off as he enters game as pinch runner for Francisco.