Romero much better but no run support as Jays get shut out by Indians

Indians v Blue Jays. Game one of three. First game after All-Star break, ready to go or rusty? Romero tonight, who knows which Ricky will turn up. Most observers see to think it is all mental with Ricky, let’s hope a trip home has him relaxed. Lawrie back in the lineup after missing with the back injury, Jays need him healthy for the second half. No trades to announce today, we dream on. Lineups: Indians: Choo, (Asdrubal) Cabrera, Kipnis Hafner, Santana, Brantley, Marson, Hannahan and Masterson pitching Jays: Lawrie, Rasmus, Bautista, Encarnacion, Lind, Escobar, Johnson, Davis, Arencibia and Romero pitching. Top 1st: Choo, 2-2 count, lines it hard but right at Davis in left, one down. Cabrera, 1-2 strikes out swinging, two down for Kipnis, 2-2 pops it up to Lawrie behind third. Pitch count 14. Bottom 1st: Lawrie, says his back is fine, the break came at perfect time to get everything relaxed. Grounds first pitch to Cabrera at short, throw to Santana at first, one down. Rasmus, 2-2 count, grounds to Santana at first flip to Masterson two down for Bautista. Full count, strikes out swinging at ball four. Pitch count 13 but Masterson looking very good first inning. Top 2nd: Hafner, OH boy... turns on this one and high to right, no doubt about this one, 1-0 Indians, terrible pitch, Hafner not going to miss that one, looked like a bp pitch. Santana, grounds to Escobar, throw to Edwin for the out. One down for Brantley, grounds to right, off the glove of Johnson into right field. One on one down for Marson, grounds to Johnson, throw to Escobar to get Brantley at second, two down for Damon. Lines it to left for a single. Two on two down for Hannahan. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. However Jays are playing catchup early. Pitch count 31. Bottom 2nd: Encarnacion, should be a lot happier with that big 3 year contract. Lines it hard to centre, but Brantley tracking it down for the out on the track. One down for Lind, singles into centre. One on one down for Escobar. 2-2 count, grounds to short, throw to second over to first, yet another double play ball by Escobar. Yunel speciality these days. Pitch count 27 for Masterson, has everything under control so far. One run may be enough for him tonight. Top 3rd: Top of the order again, Choo, first pitch lines it to centre for Rasmus to make the out. One down for Cabrera, 2-2 strikes out swinging. Two down for Kipnis, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. Ricky much better inning. Pitch count 43. Bottom 3rd: Johnson, singles into right. Davis, ohh boy grounds to second, steps on the bag throw to first, yet another double play. Davis and Escobar ruining this one for the Jays. Arencibia, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging on ball three. The master Masterson teaching the boys tonight. Jays hitters outclassed so far. Pitch count 36. Top 4th: Hafner, 0-2 Romero lucky to get away with that one to Hafner. Takes strike three, Hafner disagrees but that was a great pitch. One down, Santana. 3-1 count, low ball four. Brantley, one on one down. Lines it to Davis in left, throw not enough to get Brantley for the double, two in scoring position and Romero in big trouble. Marson, full count, strikes out swinging but that was number nine hitter and he took him to full count, now he has to deal with the top of the order and pray hard. Damon, It worked, Damon grounds first pitch to Escobar, throw to Edwin and Romero escapes but not a good inning pitching to the bottom third of the order. Pitch count 62, he might just get through six tonight. Bottom 4th: Romero needs run support and a lot of it by the look of it. Lawrie, bounces to third, long throw but in time to get Lawrie at first. One down for Rasmus. 2-2 count, grounds to first, throw to Masterson covering just beats Rasmus, two down for Bautista. Full count, grounds to third, throw to Santana at first in time. Pitch count 54. Does not look good for Jays hitters tonight. Top 5th: This game is really humming along just over an hour. Both pitchers moving fast. Hannahan, 3-0 count, Romero wild now. Fly ball to centre for Rasmus to make the out. Choo, bounces back to Romero throw to Edwin, two down. Cabrera, grounds to Lawrie, lone throw to Edwin for third out. Pitch count 73. Good inning for Romero. Bottom 5th: Encarnacion, grounds to third, throw to Santana at first for the out. Lind, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging on a pitch almost head high. Nothing much changes does it. Escobar at least no double play here. Two down, singles back up the middle great play by Kipnis but throw gets away from Santana, Escobar safe, why could that not have happened his previous at bat. Johnson, wild pitch and Escobar to second. Grounds to second throw to first to end the inning but Jays get a player to second albeit on a wild pitch. 68 pitches. Top 6th: Could be Romero’s last inning. Kipnis, 3-0 ball four, leadoff guy on base. Hafner, they have Kipnis picked off and throw to Escobar at second for the out. One down, full count, pops it up to Escobar, two down. Santana, full count, singles into centre, one on two down. Brantley, two hit night, make that 3-3 as he lines it to right, he has Romero’s number tonight. Two on two down for Marson, bounces back to Romero, throw to Edwin to get himself out of that mess. But 96 pitch count so that might be it for Romero tonight. He has flirted with trouble all night. Bottom 6th: Meantime Masterson has breezed through the Jays without any problems and has looked completely in charge since the first pitch. Davis, full count, strikes out swinging. One down for Arencibia, lines first pitch to right. Finally a clean base hit. Lawrie, grounds to third, Hannahan bobbles it but throw to first still gets Lawrie. Two down for Rasmus, but Jays have player at second. Full count, pops it up to Hannahan for third out. Pitch count 87 but he will be out again. Top 7th: End of road for Romero, still struggling with his control. Frasor now pitching. Damon, 3-1 count, grounds to Escobar, off balance throw bounces the ball several times to Edwin not in time. Leadoff guy on. Hannahan, there goes Damon, strike three and Hannahan out as Damon takes second without a throw as Arencibia drops the ball. Choo, 1-2 count, grounds back up the middle, Escobar makes the play and throw to first to get Choo, two down as Damon to third. Cabrera, full count, pitch number eight, pops it up Edwin sees it at the last moment to make the catch and Fraser is off the hook. 22 pitches though for that inning and the game has slowed considerably, two hours now for six and a half. Bottom 7th: Will Jays ever get to Masterson? Cunningham now in defensively for Damon in left. Bautista to lead off, 0-2 tonight unable to solve Masterson as with most of his teammates. 1-2 count, fly ball to Brantley in centre for the out. Encarnacion, full count, inside ball four, the only way Jays are getting on base as Masterson really turning it on now this inning, Lind, one on one down. Singles to left, two on but here comes double play specialist, Escobar. Pinch runner for Lind, Ben Francisco. Manager Acta out. Now Indians bullpen working but Masterson staying put for now it is Escobar after all. 0-2 count, strikes out, Jays fans sigh of relief, two down for Johnson grounds back up the middle but right at Cabrera takes it himself to the bag to get Francisco. Jays leave two out there but have not looked like scoring all night even with men on base. Masterson has pitched a gem. Top 8th: Oliver now pitching. Kipnis, full count, outside ball four. Hafner, finally, grounds to Johnson over to Escobar, back to Edwin, double play, first for Jays tonight to help Oliver here. Santana, two down, 3-1 count, that looked a strike, but no, ball four. Oliver and thousands others disagree. Brantley, perfect there goes Santana on first pitch but Arencibia throw there to Escobar for the out by a mile. Not very smart base running. Bottom 8th: Jays running out of chances now. Pestano now pitching, miniscule ERA of 1.75. Good luck guys. Kotchman at first for Santana probably benched for that last out. Davis leading off. Opposite field fly ball to Choo in right for the first out. Arencibia, one down. Full count, strikes out swinging, two down for Lawrie. 2-2 count, takes strike three on the corner. Top 9th: Casey Janssen now pitching. Needs the work. Brantley, 2-2 count, takes strike three, just froze him, great pitch. One down for Marson, slices it to right for a long single as Bautista gets it back in fast. One on one down for Cunningham, 1-2 count, takes strike three, two down for Hannahan. Bounces to Escobar throw to Edwin for the third out. Casey did his job but am not betting on this one for the Jays. Bottom 9th: Chris Perez the closer now pitching. 24/26 saves, good luck. Rasmus, connects n first pitch but high fly ball out to centre, gets underneath it. One down for Bautista 0-3 night terrible night for Jose. 2-2 count, grounds to short, throw to first, two down and Bautista 0-4 night, ouch. Encarnacion, full count, strikes out swinging. Jays lose 1-0 but were never in this one. Masterson dominated them from first pitch. The good: Romero on paper gives up one run and much better. Arencibia throw to get Santana by a huge margin. The not so good: Jays hitters ? well most of them still on vacation based on this performance tonight. Top four in lineup go 0-14. Bautista may have to eat his words about needing pitching, pitching staff and the fans definitely disagree tonight. The terrible double plays given up by Escobar and Davis.