Snider and Arencibia home runs and good outing by Cecil not enough for Jays to beat Oakland,

Oakland A’s v Jays. Game one of three. A’s have just swept Yankees. Yankees swept Jays last week; this one looks bad for the Jays on paper. But who would have given the Jays any chance to win let alone sweep Boston in Fenway. Cecil is the key tonight, pitching for his spot in the rotation with Happ over his shoulder and maybe even closer than that. No pressure Brett. A’s: Crisp, Gomes, Reddick, Cespedes, Carter, Inge, Norris, Hicks, Weeks and Travis Blackley pitching. Jays: Lawrie, Rasmus, Encarnacion, Lind, Arencibia, Johnson, Escobar, Snider, Davis and Cecil pitching. Top 1st: Crisp, 2-2 count, fly ball to Davis in right, one down. Gomes, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down. Reddick, right field shift, full count. Grounds to Lawrie behind first, throw to Edwin for the out.15 pitches Nice start for Cecil. Bottom 1st: Lawrie leading off. Seems to have made that leadoff spot his. Grounds back to Blackley off his glove and no chance to get speedster Lawrie already at first. Speed kills. Rasmus, wild pitch to the screen and Lawrie to second, thank you very much. 2-1 count, lines it to Reddick in right, here comes throw to third and Lawrie is out. Great throw, two down. Encarnacion, 0-2 count, strikes out looking but (very) late call as catcher frames and holds it there. Hmmm. Pitch count 8. Top 2nd: Cespedes, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down for Carter. Pops it up to Escobar, two down. Inge, 1-1 count, singles past Johnson to Davis in right. One on two down. Norris. Oh boy, first pitch, hammers this one into the seats in left, home run, 2-0 A’s just like that. Hicks, full count, low ball four. One on two down for Weeks. 1-2 count, grounds to Lawrie from his knees throw to second to get Hicks but Cecil has opened the gate. Plus a 36 pitch count for two innings. Bottom 2nd: Lind leading off. 3-1 count, grounds it to weeks at second, throw to first, one down. Arencibia, 3-1 count, lines it to the wall in right centre, he is hot right now. Goes the opposite way today after those two home runs to left in Fenway. Johnson with runner at second, one down. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. Two down for Escobar. Pops it up to short. Awful at bat by Escobar. Pitch count 24. Top 3rd: Top of the order again for Cecil. Crisp, 2-2 count, takes strikes three inside. One down for Gomes. 1-2 count, grounds to left. One on one down for Reddick, we have been here before. 1-1 count, that’s more like it, grounds back to Cecil, throw to Escobar, over to Edwin, double play ball. Pitch count 50. Might get through six which is not what Farrell is looking for maybe sayonara Brett to the bullpen for next start. Bottom 3rd: Meantime Jays are not yet through the lineup first time. Snider, 0-2 count, NO WAY., drives it to right, and this one is out of here into A’s bullpen, home run for Travis. Welcome home. 2-1 game, that was more a line drive, but he is so powerful with the lower body. but with his power Davis lines first pitch hard to first but great leaping catch by Carter for the out. Lawrie, one down. High fly ball to Cespedes in left but not far enough, two down. Rasmus, 1-2 count. Hits him inside on the shirt, one on two down, Encarnacion, 1-1 count, another wild pitch off the glove of Norris to the back stop, Rasmus to second. 3-1 count, I don’t think you will get anything to hit here Edwin. Outside ball four. Lind, lefty-lefty matchup. Time you came through Adam. Grounds to Carter at first. Throw to Blackley for the out. Maybe time to move Lind down the lineup. Jays get to Blackley though this inning for a 22 pitch inning. Pitch count 46. Top 4th: Cespedes, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down for Carter, 3-0 count, high ball four. One on one down for Inge. 2-1 count, fly ball to centre, Rasmus makes the out. Norris two down with one on, been here before. Not this time, grounds to Escobar at short, throw to Edwin to end the inning. Pitch count 65. Bottom 4th: Arencibia, 1-2 count, strikes out looking, great curve. One down for Johnson, 1-2 count, lines it back up the middle off glove of Blackley and Johnson safe without a throw. One on one down for Escobar. 3-1 count, grounds to third, throw to second, over to first. Escobar does it again, yet another double play. Pitch count 59. Top 5th: Hicks, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down for Weeks. Pulls it to third and off the glove of Lawrie into shallow left, no throw. Weeks at first, one down for Crisp. 0-2 count. Saved again, grounds to Escobar, throw to Johnson, over to Edwin double play ball. 75 pitch count. Bottom 5th: Snider leading off. 1-2 grounds to Carter at first, great diving stop, throw to Blackley just beats Travis. Carter robbed Travis there. Davis, one down grounds to short, throw to first, two down. Lawrie, pulls it to left for a single. Rasmus, long time since we saw Colby hit one high to right. 2-2 count, pops this one up to short. 73 pitch count. Top 6th: Gomes, full count. Takes strike three. One down for Reddick, shift right, 2-1 count, bunts to third, gamble failed again, how many times is that? Cespedes, 2-2 count. Beck warming up in Jays bullpen. Full count. Takes strike three, whoa. Two down. Carter, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. Pitch count 94. Too many full count at bats pushing that count up. Might be his last hitter. Bottom 6th: Encarnacion, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. One down, Lind. 1-2 count, takes strike three, not impressed with that at bat Adam. Two down for Arencibia. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. And only 86 pitch count. He may go eight as Jays (apart from Travis) unable to solve him so far. Top 7th: Cecil finished for the night. Good outing but just not enough tonight, will it give him another start? Probably. Happ warming up in Jays bullpen. Beck now pitching. Inge, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. One down for Norris, full count, grounds back to Beck, fumbles it but throw just gets Norris at first, very close. Two down. Hicks, lines it past diving Lawrie, to left field corner, stand up double. Weeks, this is trouble, lines it to the wall past Rasmus in centre, bounces off the wall, Hicks scores, 3-1 game. Weeks a triple, and that is it for Beck. Here comes Manager Farrell. Happ now pitching. Crisp lines first pitch into left field corner, Weeks scores. 4-1 Oakland. Stand up double for Crisp. Gomes, full count, high ball four, two on two down for Reddick. Lefty lefty, 3-1 count, double steal but defensive indifference. Ball four anyway. Bases loaded. Cespedes, not many strikes tonight from Happ. 3-1 count. Just cannot find the zone. Swings at ball four, full count. Oh boy, lines it to left, clears the bases 7-1 Oakland. Long single, Cespedes at first but the others were all running on the pitch and thus all score. Carter, pops it up to Davis for third out, but this game is over. Five run inning. Ugly ending. Not a great home start for Happ either. Bottom 7th: No way is this team going to score six tonight in three innings the way they have been hitting so far off Blackley. Bats have been flat and they have not even looked as if they will. Johnson leading off, 1-2 count, takes stroke three, curve ball, he has been throwng it all night they should be ready for it by now. One down for Escobar, no double play at least this time. Lines first pitch to left for the out. Two down. Snider, 1-1 count, strikes out swinging. 97 pitch count. May not pitch two more. Top 8th: Happ still out there, interesting. Inge, 1-2 count, fly ball to Travis in left, one down. Oakland bullpen working. Norris, 2-2 count, pops it up to Davis in right, two down. Hicks, pops it up to right, Davis misses it in foul territory, always an adventure with Rajai fielding. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. Much better inning for Happ. Bottom 8th: Will Jays hitters go through the motions or try? Scribner now pitching, Davis leading off. 2-2 count, takes strike three, it took eight pitches but he should have swung at that one. Lawrie, 2-3 tonight, one of the few pluses for the Jays hitters. Make that 3-4 as he lines it down the line into left, stand up double for Brett. One on one down for Rasmus. 0-2 count, takes strike three inside. Two down for Encarnacion. Lines this hard to left but great catch by Inge at third base to rob Edwin and end the inning. Top 9th: Weeks leading off. Happ finishing this one off, we hope. 2-1 count, pops it up to Johnson behind first for the out. One down. Crisp, 2-2 count, takes strike three, two down for Gomes. 3-1 count, fly ball to Davis in right, makes no mistake this time. Bottom 9th: Jays just need six against one of the best bullpens in the league. Boston beating Texas tonight so Jays could slip back again. Jim Miller now pitching. Lind leading off another ofer night 0-3. 1-2 count, fly ball to left for the out, 0-4 night for Lind. Arencibia, one down, full count, fouls off ball four outside. Fouling them off here, now he connects, pitch number ten and this one is out of here lines it into the left field bullpen. Great at bat, ten pitches. 7-2 game. Johnson, pops it up to Miller two down. Escobar, 1-1 count, pulls this one into left for a single. Snider with one but two down. Here comes the pitching coach Young. 1-2, strikes out swinging. Jays lose a horrible game tonight. Cecil had a decent outing but only Snider and Arencibia could hit the A’s pitching. The very good: Snider home run and three hit night. Arencibia last at bat ten pitches and finally a home run. Cecil has to get a gold star, really just one mistake but problem was going deep in the count to so many hitters he could not last more than six innings and his bullpen let him down. Six of the eight hits from Lawrie, Arencibia and Snider. Travis home run was off lefty pitcher, Manager Farrell would love that. No need to sit Travis against lefties John. Tampa has beaten Baltimore so Jays do not lose much ground in wild card but on the other hand miss a chance to close one more. Texas now tied with Boston in the 7th. The not so good: Beck and Happ, although Happ improved and seemed to get stronger as he pitched more innings. Runners in scoring position 0-6, same old complaint. Unfortunately both the home runs were solo shots.