Jays win squeaker with home run power and bullpen of Oliver,Frasor and Janssen

Jays v White Sox. Game three and final game pre All-Star break. Jays need to finish on a high note today with a win anyway they can, stop the losing streak, stay close to the others in the division and not least get the bats going again. Lineups: Jays: Davis, Rasmus, Bautista, Encarnacion, Lind, Escobar, Johnson, Vizquel, Mathis and Cecil pitching. White Sox: De Aza, Youkilis, Dunn, Konerko, Rios, Ramirez, Viciedo, Flowers, Beckham and Axelrod pitching. Top 1st: Davis, 2-2. Full count. ball four way outside. Rasmus, will Davis go? Or rather when will he go? WOWEEEEEE. Rasmus hammers this one opposite field and there it goes over the fence in left center. 2-0 Jays. Bautista full count, low ball four. Encarnacion, can Jays break it open here? Nobody out. Ball one, YES INDEED EDWIN, a rocket to centre, over the 400ft sign, this one is over the wall, another home run, 4-0 Jays. Lind, full count, grounds to second, throw to first for the first out. 23 pitches. Keep it going friends. Escobar, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down for Johnson, bounces back to Axelrod, throw to first for the out. 30 pitches for the inning but only seven for the three outs. Middle of the order need some correction. Bottom 1st: Cecil now with a great lead to start with. Romero probably wishing this had been yesterday. De Aza leading off. 1-2 count, lines it the wall in left, stand up double. Youkilis, 3-1 count, ball four, two on nobody out, not good Brett. Dunn, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down two on for Konerko, need a ground ball here Brett. Pops it up to Johnson at second, two down. Rios, full count, oh boy, hammers this to left and into the seats, three run home run. Awful. 4-3 game. Ramirez, pops it up to Johnson for the out but Cecil has just given back three and 25 pitch count. Terrible. Top 2nd: Cecil has given White Sox something to fight for now and after being staked to a four run lead, no excuses for that at all. Vizquel, grounds it back up the middle, Ramirez should have had that, off his glove but no error given. Mathis, swings at a pitch halfway to first. Lets this one outside go by, Vizquel going, ball two and safe at second. Not bad for a 41 year old guy. Mathis strikes out swinging. Nowhere near the pitch. Davis again, one down one on. Bunting and hits his hand. Trainer out fast stays in game but that will hurt his swing. Axelrod has thrown so many pitches off the plate. Jays hitters had better note. Fly ball to left for Viciedo to make the second out. Vizquel holds at second. Rasmus with two down. This will do, a classic Colby swing and hammers it to right bounces into the seats ground rule double as Vizquel scores. 5-3 Jays. Bautista, full count, strikes three, umpire says he went around but replay says no. Robbed there and Jose does not like it. Pitch count 49. Bottom 2nd: Now can Cecil do any better or is it going to be one of those slugfests today? Viciedo, pulls it to left and off glove of Escobar, leadoff single. Flowers, this should be two, grounds to Escobar, to Vizquel over to Edwin for double play ball to rescue Cecil here. Beckham with two down, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. Nice inning by Cecil to hold the lead. 32 pitches. Seven pitch inning. Top 3rd: Encarnacion leading off. Full count, lines it hard to left centre but De Aza makes the running catch at the wall. Lind, grounds back to Axelrod, throw to first for the second out. Escobar. 2-2 count, slices it to right and drops in for a single. Escobar slow to get out of the box and only a single. Johnson, 2-2 count, WHOA Kelly hammers this one to right centre and this one is out of here, another two run home run for the Jays who go out 7-3. Vizquel, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging to end the inning but Jays have added two more. 70 pitch count. Bottom 3rd: Cecil with a four run lead again. De Aza, 3-0, come on Brett don’t walk the guy here. Fly ball to Bautista in right for the out. Youkilis, pops it up for Edwin to make catch in front of the dugout. Two down for Dunn. Full count, low ball four. Konerko, 3-0 count, Cecil control wavering here this inning. High ball four, back to back walks, not good. Especially with Rios now at bat, Cecil had better pitch him down and way this time or he is in big trouble. Strike one down and away, strike two down and away, strikes out swinging, down and away. That is what you should have done first inning Brett. Pitch count at 53. May get his six innings in but he has to cut down on the balls. Top 4th: Axelrod is finished. Brian Omogrosso now pitching. Mathis leading off. Full count, WHOA !!!!!! Mathis gets hold of this one home run into the left field seats. 8-3 Jays. Home run number four for the Jays today and Bautista does not have any of them. Davis, please no bunting. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. One down for Rasmus, 2-2 today. Not this time, fly ball to left for to make the catch. Bautista, full count, outside ball four. Walk number two for Jose today. Encarnacion one on two down. 1-2 count, lines it hard to left but right at Ramirez to make the catch. Jays get one more for Cecil to work with. Bottom 4th: Cecil can concentrate on throwing strikes and keep that ball total down. Ramirez, 2-0 oh boy. Pops this one up to Johnson at second. One down. Viciedo, lines it to right, and goes under the wall padding, umpires call a double. Flowers, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down for Beckham, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. Pitch count 68. Top 5th: Lind, pops it up to Viciedo in left for the out. Escobar one down. Pops it up to Rios in right. Two down for Johnson. Full count, low ball four, one on two down for Vizquel, grounds first pitch to second. Bottom 5th: Big inning for Cecil, facing the top of the order. De Aza, Oh dear, hits him. Not what Cecil wanted. Youkilis, 0-2 count, lines it to left center and De Aza to third. Two on for Dunn, Cecil playing with fire again. Grounds to Johnson, throw to second to get Youkilis but no double play. De Aza scores, 8-4 Jays. Konerko, runner at first. Chavez now warming up in bullpen. Full count, grounds softly to third Vizquel bobbles it, and both runners safe. Ball bounced off the edge of the grass. Error to Vizquel. Rios, two on, hammers it to centre, Dunn scores. 8-5 Jays. That is it for Cecil and he can blame no one but himself. Both runners in scoring position. Chavez now pitching. Ramirez, lines first pitch to right. Both runs score and Ramirez to third on the play. Triple. 8-7 Jays. Viciedo, one down, one on. Luis Perez warming up. 2-2 count strikes out swinging. Two down for Flowers. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, nice pitching. Top 6th: One run ballgame, hitters have to get back to work again. Mathis leading off. Pops up first pitch to Dunn, one down. Davis, 3-1 count, low ball four. Now to put some running pressure on. Rasmus, two hit day, that is it for Omogrosso. Lefty lefty, rookie pitcher Leyson Septimo, now pitching. 2-0 count, there goes Rajai and safe on the throw. Now for third. There he goes first pitch. Scouting reports should be read. Every Jays fan could predict that. A pitch out would have got him. Full count, wild pitch and here comes the run, 9-7 Jays, speed kills. Ball four and Colby at first. Bautista, change of pitcher. Nate Jones now pitching. 2-2 count, lines it to left, fan interferes but umpire says Rasmus scores. 10-7. Manager Ventura disagrees but umpires confer and agree, run stays. Bautista at second Encarnacion now. Full count, low ball four. Lind with two on. 0-3 today. There we go, lines it to the wall in left centre, here comes Jose 11-7 Jays. Lind at second Edwin at third. Escobar now can break this one open. Base hit Yunel don’t try to be a hero. 0-2 count, bounces to third, throw home and Edwin is tagged out. Two down. Lind stayed at second. Johnson. Full count, grounds to Dunn, throw to Jones for the out. Jays are back where they started in the first and again in the fourth innings. Can they hold it this time? Bottom 6th: Perez now pitching. Beckham, 1-2 count, singles to Davis in left. De Aza, bounces to Johnson, tags Beckham but no chance for two. Youkilis, pulls it to left, here comes De Aza, stand up double. 11-8 Jays. Dunn, full count, strikes out swinging, great pitch. Two down for Konerko. Grounds first pitch to Escobar, throw to first to get Konerko. Top 7th: It would be nice to get that run back but bottom of the order. Vizquel leading off. Hector Santiago now pitching. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down. Mathis, full count, lines it down the third base line stand up double, nice eight pitch at bat by Mathis. Top of the order again Davis. 1-2 count, grounds to Dunn steps on the bag for the out but Mathis to third. Rasmus, two down runner at third. 3-1 count, high ball four. Two on for Bautista. 2-0 count, Santiago being careful with Jose. 3-1, base open, full count as Jose swings and misses. Pops it up to Ramirez for the out. Bottom 7th: Perez still pitching. Rios leading off. 2-2 count, pops this one up Edwin should have had that one in foul ground, drops behind him. 2-2 count, lines this one off the wall in centre for stand up double, that missed catch by Edwin could prove crucial. Ramirez, 2-2 count, slow bouncer to Escobar, no throw. Perez injured and now out of the game. Not good. Frasor now pitching. Two on and nobody out. Unbelievable. Viciedo fly ball to Davis, sac fly as Rios scores. 11-9. Pierzynski. Ramirez stays at first. Now a balk by Frasor can anything else go wrong here? Ramirez to second. There goes the double play option. 3-1 putting him on. Intentional walk. Good call as long as Frasor can get ground ball. Beckham, 1-2 count, that’s better takes strike three, great pitch. Two down but now the top of the order. De Aza, two on two down. 2-2 count, YES great pitch strikes out looking. VERY nice. Top 8th: Santiago still pitching. Can Jays hitters do it once more? Get those two runs back. Edwin to lead off, maybe atone for that dropped ball which lead to the last two runs. Fly ball to right for the first out. Lind, full count, low ball four. One on, problem is Escobar is behind you Adam. Fly ball first pitch to De Aza for second out. At least it was not double play to end the inning. Johnson, full count, grounds to first, throw to Santiago for third out. Bottom 8th: Oliver now pitching. Youkilis, grounds to first Edwin makes nice stop but throw to Oliver too late to get Youkilis. Dunn, pops it to left, gets there but unable to catch it. Foul ball. 2-2, takes strike three, great pitch. Dunn not happy. What is happening ??? Farrell out there and calling for Janssen ??? one out in the 8th? Oliver is THE best of the bullpen and he faces two hitters. Farrell rolling the dices bigtime here. All or nothing. Konerko, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. Two down for Rios who has killed Jays today. 3-4 already. 2-2 count, fly ball to Rasmus in centre for third out. Top 9th: Jays really need some insurance runs here. Two is not enough against this team. Vizquel leading off. Lines it to centre but in the air for De Aza. Mathis, Ventura losing it here, thrown out but he gets the crowd riled up which was his purpose no doubt. Fly ball to right centre two down. Davis last chance to get on base and he does by getting hit on the foot. Rasmus with Davis at first, will he steal? 0-2 count, there he goes and safe on the throw. Delayed steal great play. 1-2 count on Colby, strikes out swinging. Bottom 9th: Here we go...Janssen going for the save. Ramirez, 1-2 count, lifts it into shallow right. One on for Viciedo, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging, great pitch. One down for Pierzynski, pops it up to Escobar for the second out. Beckham, 2-2 count, lifts it into left, two on and the top of the order coming up. Not good scene Casey. De Aza, strike one, goes around, appeal yes he does, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. Great pitch Casey. The Farrell gamble pays off. The excellent. Home run kings: Rasmus to get it all started. Encarnacion, Mathis and Johnson. Frasor relief inning and gets the win, I like that. Casey Janssen making five pressure outs for the save number 12. Team effort: 10 hits spread around everyone except Davis but he gets two walks and three stolen bases today a great alternative for hits. The awful: Cecil first inning given huge lead and gives it back. Does the same again in the fifth. Back to “work in progress” for Cecil. Encarnacion dropped pop up by Rios in the 7th.