Vizquel, Snider and Mathis support Villanueva for Jays win 8-3 over the Tigers

Tigers v Jays. Game one of three. It doesn’t get any easier for Jays this weekend. One of the hottest teams in town. Detroit playing hard for the Central division tied with the White Sox. Plus Cabrera-Fielder combo very powerful sluggers. Jays lot happier after the win yesterday. Plus some better news re Morrow, rehab start in Dunedin tomorrow. Bautista should be trying to hit also. Lind, late minute scratch. Hope that is not an injury could be trade ??? No Escobar once more. Another great crowd after that 40,000 yesterday but will probably be much quieter without all the young campers. Lineups: Tigers: Jackson, Berry, Cabrera, Fielder, Young, Boesch, Peralta, Avila, Infante, and Porcello pitching. Jays: Lawrie, Vizquel, Rasmus, Encarnacion, Johnson, Gomes, Snider, Mathis, Gose and Villanueva pitching. Interesting with Vizquel in number two but he played it for many years. Farrell is putting a lot of faith in him. Top 1st: Jackson, fly ball to Snider in left, one down. Berry, fly ball to Rasmus in centre two down. Cabrera, oh dear, fly ball to left but this one is out of here, over the Jays bullpen, no doubt about that one. Home run to Cabrera 1-0 Tigers. Fielder, two down, OH man, first pitch, hammers this one, uppercut swing, to right centre and out of here, home run Fielder, back to back and a quick 2-0 lead for the Tigers. Young, ball four, Villanueva having trouble here getting third out. Boesch, strikes out swinging to end the inning but Jays starting from behind. Bottom 1st: Lawrie, grounds to Cabrera at third, throw to Fielder for the out. One down for Vizquel. Lines to Boesch in right and this one will drop, double for Omar. Rasmus, grounds back to Porcello, throw to first. Two down, Encarnacion. 1-1 count, lines it through the gap into right, here comes Vizquel to score and Jays have one back. 2-1 Tigers. Two down for Johnson, grounds to Peralta at short, throw to first to end the inning but Jays have one back. Top 2nd: Peralta, strikes out swinging, one down. Avila, ball four, second walk by Villanueva today. One on one down. Infante, lines it to centre, Rasmus makes the out. Two down one on for Jackson, fly ball to right but Gose has it for the out. No damage done here. Bottom 2nd: Gomes leading off, grounds to Cabrera at third, throw to first, one down. Snider, grounds to Fielder, throw to Porcello covering the bag, two down. Mathis grounds to Peralta, throw to Fielder to end the inning. Top 3rd: Berry, leading off, singles to Rasmus in centre. Cabrera, fly ball to Rasmus for the out. One down, one on for Fielder. Hits him. Two on for Berry grounds to. Lawrie, over to Johnson on to Gomes at first, double play to help Villanueva out here. Helps his pitch count but now 66, not good after three. Bottom 3rd: Gose, leading off, bunting, misses, now grounds to Infante, throw to Fielder at first, one down for Lawrie, lines out to Peralta at short, two down. Vizquel. Fly ball to Jackson in centre to end the inning. Pitch count only 31. Jays have to do better than this. Top 4th: Boesch, bunting fouls it off. Peralta strikes out swinging but that took nine pitches which Villanueva can ill afford right now over 80 pitches. Avila, fly ball to Snider in left. 81 pitch count. Bottom 4th: Rasmus, singles to centre, one on for Encarnacion, grounds to short, throw to second just gets Rasmus, over to first but Edwin already past the bag. Farrell does not agree with that decision at second and out to argue, I think he may be right but umpire not changing the call. Johnson, 3-1 count, swings at ball four, full count. There goes Edwin but Kelly fouls it off. Goes again, same result, Edwin doing wind sprints here. Come on Kelly help him out here. Low ball four. Two on one down for Gomes. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. Two down for Travis. 3-0, takes it, 3-1, low ball four to load the bases. Nice at bat by Travis. Here comes the pitching coach. Mathis, bases loaded. Ball one, yes this will do, lines it to the wall in left, this will clear the bases, and Jays go out ahead 4-2. Mathis stand up double. Gose now. 2-2 count, this will do bounces it to first, off glove of Fielder in to shallow right and here comes Mathis, Gose has his first RBI, 5-2 Jays. Top of the order again, Lawrie. There goes Gose, and safe on the throw, Speed wow. His first major league stolen base. 1-1 to Lawrie. Gose going again but Lawrie fouls it off. 1-2 count. There he goes again but Lawrie pops it to Boesch in right to end the inning. 67 pitch count. 36 pitches for the inning, thanks to Mathis but also good to see Gose doing well now. Jays can use his contributions until Jose returns. Top 5th: Villanueva has a good lead now but can he hold it and get into the sixth for the win. Infante fly ball to Snider in left for the out. Jackson lines this one to right and just foul as Gose hits the wall hard. That was a Raoul Mondesi charge at the wall. Maybe not a great idea. Gose still working out that right field position compared to centre field. Lines it to Snider in left for second out. Berry, full count, don’t walk him Carlos with Cabrera on deck. Singles to Gose in right. Cabrera, perfect, drives first pitch to right, Gose makes the third out. 99 pitches though. He may just get Fielder next inning and that is it. Bottom 5th: Vizquel, 1-2 count, bounces to short, throw to Fielder at first for the out. Rasmus, 1-1 count, pulls it to second throw to fielder to get Colby, nice play by Infante. Encarnacion two down. 2-1 count, grounds to Peralta at short, throw to Fielder for the third out. Pitch count 78. Top 6th: Evening over for Villanueva, Aaron Loup now pitching, facing Fielder first at bat for a rookie, that is tough assignment. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, great pitching Aaron. One down for Young. Lines this one back up the middle to Rasmus, one on one down for Boesch. Bounces to Johnson, throw to Vizquel, over to Gomes at first, not in time. Two down one on. Peralta, 2-2 count, slow roller to Vizquel, great throw barehanded play to Gomes for the out. wow. Bottom 6th: Johnson, lines to Boesch in right, for long single, good to see Kelly in the groove again, two hits yesterday and two more today. Gomes one on, bunts but foul. This time he does it, back to Porcello and throw to first to get Gomes. Kelly to second. Snider, one down. Tigers bullpen working. Come on Travis, 3-0 count, bounces to Infante at second, throw to first to get Travis but Kelly to third. Two down for Mathis. 1-1 count, pops it up to Cabrera at third for the out. Top 7th: Avila, full count, grounds back to Loup, throw to Gomes for the out. That is it for Aaron, Brandon Lyon now pitching, Loup gets a nice ovation. Infante, grounds to Vizquel, great play to save this one but throw not in time to get speedster Infante. Jackson, 1-2 count, strikes out looking, two down. Berry, 2-2 count, there goes Infante, but strike three, even if Mathis throws to second. Nice inning by Lyon. Bottom 7th: Ex-Jay Octavio Dotel now pitching. Gose leading off. Full count, lines it to opposite field left, but Berry makes the out, one down for Lawrie. 1-2 count, lines it to the wall, and Brett husking to third, stand up triple, no throw. Great hustle Brett. Vizquel, showing bunt. Pitch out, not going 2-0 count. Omar lines this one to the wall, same location, and he is going for three, safe at third an easy triple, he was easing up at the end of that triple. Not bad for a 45 year old. Lawrie scores 6-2 Jays Rasmus, 3-1 count, pops it up to Berry in left, not deep enough for tag by Vizquel. Encarnacion, two down. 2-2 count, drives it to Jackson in centre for the out. Top 8th: Darren Oliver now pitching. Cabrera, 3-1 count, lines to the right field corner, good throw by Gose but off the base and Cabrera safe at second. Fielder. Singles to centre, here comes Cabrera and Rasmus throw right on the money, umpire calls him safe 6-3 Jays. Farrell arguing but no good. Young with runner at first. Pops it up to Lawrie. One down for Boesch, 2-2 count, who great breaking pitch, strikes out swinging, two down for Peralta. 2-2 count, strikes him out swinging. The old guys doing it all tonight. Bottom 8th: Duane Below now pitching, Johnson, nice swing and lines it to centre but Jackson makes the out at the wall. One down for Gomes. Casey Janssen warming up. 2-2 count, whoa, lifts it softly to Infante at second but Infante throw is wild and Gomes safe at first. Snider, one on one down. OH WOWEEEEE Travis, classic Travis home run, hammers this drive to right centre, and way into the seats, his third home run of a lefty since he has been recalled. 8-3 Jays. Mathis pops it up to short for second out. Gose, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. Top 9th: Janssen now pitching. Avila, pops first pitch up to Gose in right, one down. Infante, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down for Jackson. Full count. Grounds to Vizquel, another nice play and throw to get Jackson and Jays win big against the Tigers. 11 pitches for Janssen. Villanueva now 6-0. Not bad for a reliever at the beginning of the season. Yankees beat Boston 10-3. Orioles hammered by Oakland 14-9. That helps the Jays as the wild cards contract one more. Jays now out of wild card. However two more with Detroit to worry about. Man of the game has to be Vizquel, triple !!! and double and a great barehanded out. Not bad for a 45 year old, by far his best game of the season. Watch for Escobar to suddenly be ready for the next game. Snider another home run off a lefty. Mathis 3 run double to put Jays ahead and let’s not forget Encarnacion rbi in the first to get one back after the back to back home runs by Cabrera and Fielder. Bullpen once again comes through. Loup, Lyon, Oliver and Janssen support Villanueva. Great win for the Jays to start the series but they have another tomorrow. Crowd almost 34,000 and that for a Friday game is excellent. Jays crowds are certainly up over last season. This weekend series could easily be over 100,000. That is Yankee and Red Sox territory for the Jays home games series.