Jays come from behind to beat Oakland with home run power and speed

Jays v A’s. Final game of four game series. Great win yesterday with the rookies, almost like a Hollywood movie. Can it carry over to today? Odds are not great but the rookies may have other plans. After this series they head east to St. Petersburg and the hot Rays. Today Lawrie and Rasmus taking another day off and plus the off day tomorrow should give their injuries time to heal. The not so good news is re Bautista as the word is now “may” return this season, that would not be good news. Fraser and Lind both starting to work. Not much room for Frasor in this new bullpen which is looking stronger by the day. Lineups: Jays: Davis, Gose, Encarnacion, Escobar, Johnson, Mathis, Gomes, Sierra, Hechavarria and Laffey pitching. How many of these players did you expect to see in a Jays starting lineup this season? Interesting Escobar backing up Edwin today but Kelly has definitely been struggling. I like the speed at the top. A’s: Crisp, Gomes, Reddick, Cespedes, Carter, Inge, Norris, Rosales, Weeks and Milone pitching. Top 1st: Davis leading off, hammers this one to left, stand up double to lead off. How long will he stay there? Gose bunting, there goes Rajai to third, throw to first to get Gose but here comes Davis all the way home and beats the throw back to Norris, wow speed kills as Jays go ahead 1-0 on pure speed. Norris was concentrating on Gose letting Davis take third but I don’t think he expected Davis to keep on running. Encarnacion grounds back to Milone throw to Carter at first, two down. Escobar grounds to Rosales at short, throw to Carter to end the inning but Jays strike first. Bottom 1: Crisp leading off, strikes out swinging. Gomes pops up to Escobar at short, two down. Reddick strikes out swinging. Always a good sight the way this guy has owned Jays pitching the last two series Top 2: Johnson leading off, hits him. One on for Mathis, there goes Kelly and throw by Norris gets him at second. Jays base running has been the pits. Jays lineup cannot afford to giveaway outs. Mathis pops up to Carter at first, two down for Gomes, strikes out swinging. Bottom 2nd: Cespedes, drives to centre but Gose makes the out. Carter, fly ball to Sierrra in right, two down. Inge, singles to Gose. One on for Norris, lines to Davis in left here comes Inge to score. 1-1 game. Norris at second. Rosales strikes out swinging. Jays lead did not last for long. Top 3rd: Sierra leading off fly ball to left for Gomes to make the out. One down for Hechavarria, same again, fly ball to Gomes, two down for Davis, strikes out swinging. Three up and down for Milone. Bottom 3rd: Weeks leading off, ball four, come on Laffey. Crisp, one on fly ball to Gose in centre. One down. Gomes singles to left, Weeks to 3rd. Two on for Reddick, oh man, high fly ball to right and this one is out of here, three run home run for Reddick yet again the destroyer of this Jays pitching staff. 4-1 Oakland. Cespedes grounds to Escobar throw to Gomes. Two down for Carter fly ball to Gose for third out but Oakland has taken the lead. Top 4th: Gose, leading off, there we go Antony singles to left. Maybe finally getting his major league bat going. Encarnacion, YES Edwin, hammers this one to centre and this one is out of here as they say, two run home run for Edwin. Number 29. Jays get two back, 4-3 Oakland. Escobar fly ball to Reddick in right. Johnson one down, singles to Reddick in right, one on one down for Mathis. Pops up to Carter at first. Gomes one on two down, strikes out swinging. But Jays get two back and this game is not over yet Bottom 4th: Inge singles to Sierra in right. Norris, perfect, grounds to third, Hechavarria to Johnson over to Gomes. Double play ball. Rosales two down fly ball to Gose in centre. Laffey did what he had to here and shut the A’s down. Top 5th: Sierra, grounds to Inge at third, throw to Carter at first, one down for Hechavarria, fly ball to Reddick in right, two down. Davis, pop up to Rosales, he can’t get to it, it drops and Rajai safe at first. Gose, lines this to left and in to second with that speed, single and a double for Gose today, great to see his bat working. Davis to 3rd. Encarnacion, two on two down, no not itching to Edwin, intentional walk to get to Escobar with bases loaded. Escobar, oh wow, right through the infeld gap singles to Gomes. Here comes Davis, here comes Gose with that speed no problem, 5-4 Jays. Edwin to 2nd. Two on two down for Johnson. Yes Kelly, soft fly ball blooper to left and here comes Edwin to score 6-4 Jays. Escobar to 2nd. Mathis, strikes out but Jays have stormed back here to retake the lead and all with two down. Bottom 5th: Laffey with the lead again. Weeks leading off, grounds to Johnson throw to Gomes at first. One down for Crisp, fly ball to Sierra in right, two down. Gomes doubles to left. Reddick, oh no. Not this guy, two down with runner at second. Perfect strikes out. Nice pitch Laffey. Top 6th: Gomes leading off, grounds to Rosales at short, throw to Carter at first. One down for Sierra, singles to left. One on for Hechavarria, grounds to Inge at third, throw to second to get Sierra. Hechavarria to 1st. Davis, two down one on, pops up to Carter to end the inning. Bottom 6th: Jays getting close to bullpen time if Laffey can hold the A’s here. Cespedes leading off fly ball to Gose, one down for Carter fly ball to Davis in left, two down for Inge, grounds to Escobar throw to Gomes. Three up and down for Laffey very important inning. Excellent job. Top 7th: New pitcher Evan Scribner for Milone. Gose leading off, two hits today plus the great first inning bunt, not this time grounds Carter. Encarnacion, hammers this one to left stand up double for Edwin, great to see his bat coming alive as they say. Home run and double today. Escobar, pops up to Rosales in foul territory. Two down for Johnson, strikes out swinging. Bottom 7th: Bullpen time for the Jays and they can actually look forward to this these days with the strength that they now have down there. This is going to help the starting rotation no end knowing that they do not have to pitch seven or more innings to help the side. Brandon Lyon for Laffey. Norris, takes strike three. One down for Rosales, oh dear, lines to left for a stand-up double. Weeks with runner in scoring position, strikes out swinging. Two down one on. Crisp, this is trouble, lines to Sierra in right here comes Rosales to score, 6-5 Jays. Gomes, two down, Crisp at second in scoring position, strikes out swinging. Jays still have the lead. Top 8th: Mathis leading off, grounds to Rosales at short, throw to Carter at first, one down. Gomes pops up to Rosales at short, two down. Sierra, there we go, singles to Crisp in centre. Cooper pinch hitting for Hechavarria. Nice, singles to Gomes in left. Sierra to third. Two on two down. Here comes the Coach. Davis pops up to Carter at first. Bottom 8th: Gomes from first base to third. Cooper at first. Loup now pitching. Reddick, watch this guy Aaron, grounds to Johnson throw to Cooper at first, goodbye Mr. Reddick, hopefully the last time we see you this series at least. Cespedes fly ball to Gose in centre, two down. Carter, ball four, not good Aaron. That is it for Loup, Steve Delabar now pitching two down one on, for Inge, perfect, strikes out swinging. Top 9th: Figueroa now pitching. One run lead here friends another would really help our blood pressure. Gose takes strike three. Encarnacion grounds to Inge at third, throw to Carter at first. Two down for Escobar, fly ball to Crisp in centre. Bottom 9th: Casey Janssen to try to save this one. After a week of doing nothing he has certainly been heavily used in this four game series. Norris leading off, strikes out swinging. One down. Brandon Moss pinch hitting for Rosales. Ball four. One on for Weeks, tying run at the plate. Tension here. Sogard pinch running for Moss. Excellent, Weeks lines hard to left Gomes makes great catch and throw to Cooper to first to get Sogard, double play ball to end this game. He would have scored if that had got by Gomes. Jays win again. An amazing win by the rookies to split the four game series when it looked as if they could go seven losses in a row. Now they can head east on a good high and to look forward to the return of Lawrie and Rasmus in St. Petersburg. The excellent: The whole lineup, despite missing Lawrie, Rasmus, Bautista, Lind, Arencibia ( and don't forget Snider's traded bat) but you know what I mean, they still get 12 hits. SPEED, when Lawrie and Rasmus return, this team will have speed throughout the lineup and this is going to add a huge new dimension to this team as demonstrated in that first inning by Gose and Davis. Edwin comes through with the two run home run. Edwin also with no extra base hits on this road trip was 4-24 at the start of the game, home run and a double will help everybody. We can now see why so much has been made of the minor league depth of the Jays, these guys are now really helping out. Gose settling in with his bat, his speed and defense are already producing. Sierra still rough with his base running but his bat looks good. Yan Gomes for his versatility at first, third and catching is a great utility guy. Add in the bullpen depth and this team is starting to show the potential for a long time even without the big guys. September should be a great month as Jays act as spoilers and make a strong statement to the division. The not so good: Nothing today, a great game, and a most unlikely win against a strong team going hard for the wild card.