Lack of hitting hurting as Jays lose another series against Rays

Jays v Rays. Game two of three. No good news. Bautista, waiting for the second MRI or rather the third as he moved during the second and had to repeat, but it does not look good. Jays fans may have to start thinking that we will not see Jose bat again this season. Lawrie throwing but still not in the lineup. Lind still working out ditto Frasor. What a broken record. Gose in for Sierra tonight but this lineup still looks like the one in Vegas. However all of them are getting invaluable exposure. You can already see the improvements in all of them. The bullpen is the bright light on this scene a great outing by Chad Jenkins last night. Jays need some leadership with the bat. Red Sox have already lost this afternoon so Jays have a chance tonight to get level. Jays: Davis, Rasmus, Encarnacion, Escobar, Cooper, Johnson, Mathis, Gose, Hechavarria and Villanueva pitching. Rays: Jennings, Upton, Joyce, Longoria, Zobrist, Pena, Keppinger, Molina, Rodriguez, and Alex Cobb pitching. Top 1st: Another empty stadium, official count last night was 13,000 but they must be counting tickets sold as opposed to bodies in the ballpark. Davis leading off, grounds to Zobrist throw to Pena at first for the out. Rasmus, 1-2 count, shatters his bat grounds to Zobrist, throw to Pena, two down for Encarnacion. DH tonight. 2-2 count, lines it into left. One on two down for Escobar. 1-1 count, grounds to third, throw to second to get Edwin. Pitch count15. Bottom 1st: Jennings leading off. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging, three pitches one down. Upton, 2-0 count, lines it hard to third, Hechavarria knocks it down but throw off the glove of Cooper. One on for Joyce, first pitch pop up to Johnson, two down for Longoria. 2-2 count, there goes Upton, throw not in time and hits him, full count Upton at second. Strikes out swinging, very nice Carlos. Top 2nd: Cooper leading off. This guy has had more than enough time to settle in. Time for some production David. Grounds weakly to third, throw to first, one down. Johnson, having a miserable time with his bat. Full count, lines it hard to Pena at first, throw to Cobb for second out. Mathis, 0-2 count, loops it into left. One on but two down for Gose, no bunting here Antony, hit away. First pitch fly ball to left for the out. Oh dear not like that. Bottom 2nd: Zobrist leading off. 3-0 count, ball four. One on for Pena, 2-1 count, drives it to centre, Rasmus makes the out, one down for Keppinger. 0-2 count, grounds to Escobar, bounces the throw to Johnson and not able to make two outs. Man, not good Yunel concentrate. Two down from ex-Jay Jose Molina. Singles first pitch into right centre. Two on two down. Rodriguez. 1-2 count, strikes out, Escobar mistake costs five pitches. Top 3rd: Hechavarria, 2-2 count, takes strike three. Davis, 2-2 count, hits him, ouch. One on one down for Rasmus. Time to hit it out Colby. 1-2 count, hit and run, perfect, Colby singles into right, Davis all the way to third. Encarnacion now, runner on the corners and one down. 1-1 count, this will do, lines to left, Davis tags and scores. Sac fly for Edwin and RBI # 75. 1-0 Jays. Two down for Escobar, chance to redeem his fielding mistake, Rasmus at first. Full count, Rasmus running as Escobar singles into centre, Colby all the way to third. Cooper with two on. Takes strike one, fly ball to Upton in centre for the out. Cooper has to start producing in these situations. Pitch count 54. Bottom 3rd:Jennings, full count. Pulls it to Davis in left, throw not in time, Jennings leadoff double. Upton, 0-2 count, lines it into right field corner and just like that game is tied up 1-1. Still nobody out. Upton at second, Joyce, lines it to Gose in right, Upton holds at third. Two on nobody out and Longoria. That’s ok, grounds to Escobar, to Johnson over to Cooper double play for a run as Upton comes in from third. 2-1 Rays, two down. Zobrist. Full count, Pena. 3-0 count, low ball four. Here comes Walton, settle down here Carlos. Keppinger with two on, 2-0, oh dear, come on Carlos. Full count, singles back up the middle, here comes the runner Zobrist, 3-1 Rays. Molina, two on two down. Fly ball to Davis in left. That failure by Cooper looms large now. Pitch count 60. Top 4th: Yankees and Orioles winning 7-1 and 5-0 respectively. Johnson leading off. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down for Mathis, strikes out swinging. Gose, two down strikes out swinging, Cobb strikes out the side, terrible hitting by this lineup. This team tonight only has three in the lineup that you could call bona fide hitters and you are not going to win many games with that. The other problem of course is that this puts tremendous pressure on the starters. Pitch count 69. Bottom 4th: Rodriguez, 1-2 count. singles past a diving Escobar into left. One on for Jennings. First pitch swinging, they want it over quickly as well, lines out to Rasmus in centre, one down for Upton. Now they have Rodriguez picked off, balk called on Villanueva, nothing going right tonight. Rodriguez to second. 1-2 count, takes strike three, Upton does not like the call, tough. Two down for Joyce. Whoa, lines this one high to right BUT Gose makes the third out at the wall. Almost out of there. Looked like two runs all the way. Pitch count 71. Top 5th: Can these Jays hitters get something going here? Hechavarria leading off. 1-2 count. Ouch hits him. One on for Davis. You run Hech. Put some pressure on Cobb here. Nothing to lose . Davis grounds to third, throw to second over to first, double play. Another major reason for Hech to run. Farrell has to do something here to scratch out the runs, send the runner might be a start, nothing to lose. Two down for Rasmus. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. Thanks Rajai. 77 pitch count. Bottom 5th: Longoria, full count, great curve ball to strike him out looking, wow. One down for Zobrist. 1-1 count, slow bouncer to Cooper at first, only just beats him to the bag. Hustle David. Two down for Pena. 2-1 count, bunting to third Villanueva makes the play and throw to get Pena. Three up and down. Nice inning. Carlos doing his part, how about the bats? 84 pitch count. Top 6th: Snider 2-3 so far tonight, oh Travis we miss you bigtime. Encarnacion leading off. Pops up to Pena, one down. Escobar, 1-2 count, fly ball to Upton in right centre, two down for Cooper. 2-1 count. Grounds back to Cobb, throw to first to end the inning. Bottom 6th: Keppinger, 0-2 count, pops up to Cooper for the out. Molina, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down. Rodriguez, full count, strikes out swinging. Nice pitching Carlos, you have done your job. 103 pitch count. Top 7th: Johnson, 2-1 count lines the other way into left field corner, stand up double for Kelly. One on for Mathis. Rays bullpen working. McGhee. Showing bunt. 0-1 count. Bunts up third base line and Johnson to third. Mathis out on throw to first. One down for Gose. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. Two down for Hechavarria. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. Should Farrell have pinch hit Vizquel for Hech ? He will say learning situation. Bah humbug! Bottom 7th: Delabar now pitching. Jennings, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. One down. Upton, 2-2 count, pops up to Johnson, two down for Joyce. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. Three up and down for Delabar. Pitchers have been doing their job. Top 8th: Top of the order. Davis. Joel Peralta now pitching. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. One down for Rasmus. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down for Encarnacion. 2-2 count, strikes out looking. Man. Bottom 8th: Brad Lincoln now pitching. Longoria, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. Longoria does not agree. Too bad. Zobrist. 2-1 count, lines it past diving Johnson into right. One on one down for Pena. 2-2 count, Howell and Rodney warming up in Rays bullpen, not sure why Maddon thinks he needs two tonight, Jays hitters have not threatened all night. Pops it up to Rasmus in centre, two down for Keppinger. Grounds to Escobar, throw to Johnson for the out. Nice inning by Lincoln. Top 9th: Last chance for the underperforming bats. Five hits one run. 0-3 in scoring position. Detroit making a run of it against Yankees, 9-7 Yankees in the 8th. Rodney pitching, he wants another easy save here. Escobar first pitch fly ball to right. Cooper, fly ball to left and oh my, this one bounces on the low wall 315 ft. and is out of here, home run, that was one freaky hit and run. That should also have been caught by Jennings, but Jays will take any run they can get any way they can. 3-2 Rays. Johnson, pops it up to short, two down for Mathis. I don’t think he will be bunting, 0-2 count, lines it to short for the out. Jays lose 3-2. On paper looks good but this was not even close. Jays lose another series to the Rays and will have to fight harder than this to avoid the sweep tomorrow. And don’t even think of the home series Yankees, White Sox and Rangers will eat this team alive the way they are hitting right now. Far too much pressure on the pitchers by the lacklustre hitting lineup. In my book Rasmus and Encarnacion are the only two legitimate hitters, that will not win many games. The very good: Once again the pitching. One rough inning by Villanueva, but Delabar and Lincoln combined with Villanueva for five shutout innings and that is excellent in my book. Not good: Uninspiring managing by Farrell, he has to send the runners especially the rookies with speed. Show some aggression. I still believe a pinch hitter for Hechavarria with runner at third and two down. Vizquel, Gomes and Sierra all better options in my book than Gose and Hech. Cooper has to come through with runners on. Johnson and Escobar have to show some leadership to the rookies.