Happ beats Texas Darvish with bullpen support, speed and Edwin power

Rangers v Jays. Game one of three. Out of the frying pan into the fire the saying goes. Jays thought White Sox were bad enough, Rangers are far tougher. Firstly the sadness over the death of the fan from last night’s game who died from his heart attack. Puts it all in perspective for everyone, this is only a game friends. Darvish v J. Happ tonight. Darvish supposed to be struggling. Lots of walks but this Jays team hardly the most patient at bats. We shall see. The good news, Edwin is back in the lineup and next week the start of the DL return. Lead by Morrow, Lawrie and Bautista now being touted as returns. Such riches. Lineups: Rangers: Kinsler, Andrus, Hamilton, Beltre, Young, Murphy, Soto, Gentry, Olt and Darvish pitching. Jays: Davis, Johnson, Encarnacion, Cooper, Escobar, Sierra, Vizquel, Mathis, Gose and Happ pitching. Edwin back but Rasmus resting, you could see last night he was much too tentative at his at bats. Not ready yet. Rosie Mclennan gold medalist for Canada throwing out first pitch. Can Happ give Jays a great supporting effort tonight? Top 1st: Kinsler leading off. 3-0 count, come on Happ. There we go a strike. 3-1, full count, strikes out swinging. One down. Andrus, grounds to Escobar, throw to Cooper, two down. Hamilton, this is the guy they want to sit down fast. Lines it right at Escobar to end the inning. Nice start for Happ. Pitch count 10. Bottom 1st: Davis, 1-2 count, lines hard to Olt at third, throw to first for the out. Johnson, 3-1 count, outside ball four. One on one down for Edwin. HERE WE GO, Edwin hammers this one, high to left inside the foul pole and into the second level seats 2-0 Jays. Problem is we were here with the White Sox and gave the lead away. Cooper, grounds to first, Young to Darvish, for second out. Escobar, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. Jays get the start they wanted and needed. Pitch count 18 for Darvish. Top 2nd: Beltre, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down for Young. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down for Soto. 3-0 count, full count, strikes out swinging, wow. Strikes out the side. Yes Jay Happ. Pitch count 26. Bottom 2nd: Happ giving Jays offense some space here. Can they capitalise? Sierra leading off. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. One down for Vizquel. 2-2 count, lines it hard to right but Young makes the out. Two down for Mathis. 0-2 count, takes strike three. Darvish settling in here not good. Pitch count 34. Top 3rd: Soto, 1-2 count, takes strike three, number five for Happ. Gentry, 2-2 count, takes strike three. Wow. Olt, full count, strikes out swinging. Ridiculous. Seven strikeouts in first nine. Pitch count 42. Is Romero watching this, see the ball throw the ball no nonsense tonight, no hesitation, no second and third guessing, just throw. Bottom 3rd: Gose, full count, hits him, free pass for Gose. One on for Davis, this should be fun. There he goes, first pitch and easily safe on the throw to second. Wow. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down. Johnson, grounds to first, throw to Darvish for the second out as Gose goes to third. Edwin, full count, strikes out swinging. Pitch count 53 after three innings. Jays like that. Top 4th: Top of the order, Kinsler. Full count, high ball four. One on for Andrus, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. One down one on for Hamilton. Shift right on. 0-1 count, grounds to Cooper, steps on the bag but nobody at second for double play. Two down for Beltre. Pops it up to Johnson for third out. Pitch count 61. Bottom 4th: Jays need some more runs here, two will not be enough against Texas. Cooper leading off. Full count, strikes out swinging, one down for Escobar. Grounds to Kinsler, throw to Young, two down. Sierra. 2-2 count, loops it into shallow centre for Andrus to make over the shoulder catch. Pitch count 67. Top 5th: Young, loops it into shallow centre and first hit off Happ. One on for Murphy. 1-2 count, grounds it back up the middle, two on nobody out. Soto. Bunting, 1-1 count, this time, and Happ throw to first for the out. One down but both runners in scoring position, Gentry, 1-1 count, grounds to Johnson, throw to first for second out as Young scores 2-1 Jays. Runner at third, two down. Olt, 1-2 count, lines this one to left and Davis makes nice running catch as he bangs up against the wall. Close but that’s ok, still an out. Happ buckled but did not break. Pitch count 78. Bottom 5th: Bottom of Jays order, Vizquel. Loops it to right centre for Gentry to make the out. One down for Mathis, full count, strikes out swinging, two down. Gose, 2-1 count, loops it into shallow centre and Gentry unable to catch it, bounces off his glove, and there goes Gose all the way to third. First major league triple for Gose. SPEED... Davis runner at third. Here he comes as Davis singles to centre, 3-1 Jays. Johnson now with Davis at first for now at least. Darvish distracted here by Rajai. 1-1 count, there he goes, throw not in time and Davis safe at second. There he goes to third as strike to Johnson, 2-2 count. Strikes out swinging but Jays get that run back for Happ. Speed rules for this Jays team. Darvish now at 86 pitch count. Top 6th: Kinsler, 2-2 count, pops it up to Sierra for the out but that took nine valuable pitches. One down for Andrus, full count, same again, pops it up to Sierra, two down. Hamilton, 0-2 count, grounds to Vizquel playing at second with the shift right, throw to Cooper for third out. Pitch count 98 and it could be the last hitter for Happ tonight. Delabar was warming up in the bullpen. Bottom 6th: Encarnacion leading off. Bounces softly back to Darvish, throw to Young, one down. Cooper. 2-1 count, grounds to Andrus, throw to Young, two down for Escobar. 2-1 count, pops it up to Kinsler for third out. 96 pitch count. Will he be back out again? Top 7th: Bullpen has to hold them now, that is it for Happ. Delabar now pitching. Beltre. 3-1 count, not getting those outside calls. Ball four. One on for Young. First pitch pop up to Sierra in shallow right. Not a good at bat after Delabar had just walked a guy. One down for Murphy. Full count, there goes Beltre and Murphy singles to Sierra in right. Two on, runner at third for Soto. Only one out. Here comes Bruce Walton. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down for pinch hitter Nelson Cruz. 3-0 count, come on Steve. 3-1 count, outside ball four to load the bases. Twp warming up in bullpen Loup and Lyon lefty righty. This should have happen two games ago. Olt, strike one, 2-2 count, full count. Grounds to Vizquel but he fumbles the ball. Man. Run scores. Error to Vizquel. That was a play he could make in his sleep. An easy out. 3-2 game. Bases still loaded and Delabar has to leave the game. Lyon now pitching. Kinsler, grounds to Escobar, throw to Johnson for the third out. Vizquel owes Delabar tonight, let’s hope Jays can get the run back. Bottom 7th: Darvish still out there, let’s hope that is a big mistake. Sierra leading off. 2-2 count, bounces back to Darvish, throw to first, one down. Vizquel, make amends here for that run Omar. Full count, strikes out swinging. Two down for Mathis. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. Top 8th: Lyon still out there. Top of the order for Rangers. Andrus,1-2 count, strikes out swinging. One down and here comes Farrell. Lefty Loup now pitching. Hamilton, one down. 2-2 count, strikes out but ball gets away and Mathis long throw to get the out. Nice play by Mathis and Cooper at first stretching wide for the throw. Two down. That is it for Loup, did his job in getting Hamilton. Brad Lincoln now pitching. Beltre, way inside almost hits him. 1-0 count, loops it into shallow left. One on for Young. Grounds first pitch to Johnson, throw to Cooper for the out. Nice job by the bullpen, one more inning. Bottom 8th: Can the Jays get some insurance here? Alexi Ogando now pitching. Gose leading off. 1-2 count, takes strike three, one down for Davis. 0-2 count, lines it to left but Murphy makes the out. Two down for Johnson. 0-2 count, lines it to right and bounces over the wall in the corner ground rule double. Two down one on for Edwin. Mound conference with the coach on how to deal with Edwin. Pitch him away and walk him. McCoy pinch running for Johnson. Intentional walk to Edwin, here come the boos. Wait until Jose and the others are back in the lineup. Two on for Cooper. Hit it out David. 0-1 count, bounces to Kinsler, throw to second to get Edwin. Top 9th: Casey Janssen now pitching. Murphy, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down for Soto. 3-1 count, pops it up to shallow centre, Gose and Escobar collide but Gose makes the second out, Cruz now, (very) dangerous hitter. 1-1 count, bounces to Johnson, throw to Cooper. Jays win a huge win. The good, no the VERY good: J. Happ outpitching Darvish for the win. The bullpen once again coming through bigtime. Delabar, and the thre L’s. Loup, Lyon and Lincoln. Not least Brandon Lyon getting third out with bases loaded in the 7th. Janssen for the one two three save. It cannot be overstated, this Rangers team is first in so many offensive categories are leading the division and will be in the playoffs. The Jays badly beaten up with injuries. The top three in the order (Lawrie, Rasmus, Bautista) missing and the numbers five and six (Lind and Arencibia) missing and they beat the Rangers. You would have great odds in Vegas tonight on this happening. Let’s not forget the new weapon of this young team, SPEED. Gose triple off a broken bat looper that should have been a single that he turned into a triple. Davis with his two stolen bases. This is an element long missing from the Jays team but such an exciting and productive element with these two. The not so good: Just one minor grumble, the error by Vizquel which lead to the second Texas run. But tonight we celebrate a huge win by this gutsy lineup. Looks like Boston and Baltimore both losing tonight. Yankees win and Tampa just getting underway on the west coast but for tonight at least Jays get one game closer to Boston.