Villanueva gem and the bullpen enough to beat the Rays 2-0

Rays v Jays. Game one of four. Big series for the Rays not so much the Jays apart from the spoiler aspect. But they would like to continue the one game win streak two of the last three that they started in NY. Plus of course Rays have owned the Jays this season so it is time for payback to start and where it hurts the Rays most in the wild card scramble. Orioles have already won this afternoon so that puts even more pressure on the Rays to keep pace with Baltimore for the wild card. Especially as the Orioles go into NY tomorrow for huge series. If Yankees sweep then Rays have great chance to move back into the position, if Orioles sweep NY, then Rays have to keep pace but it will also mean that Yankees will be right back with the Orioles. Should be a great start to September and the Jays will be in the thick of it acting as spoiler. Tonight Moore winner of his last four outings and hot, Villanueva always solid. Should be a great game. Looks like a good crowd from my seat although one can never tell with the fifth deck crowd behind us, how deep it is but I would say at least 25,000 tonight. Lineups: Rays: Jennings, Upton, Zobrist, Longoria, Joyce, Keppinger, Scott, Lobaton, Fuld and Moore pitching. Jays: Davis, Rasmus, Encarnacion, Lind, Escobar, Johnson, Sierra, Mathis, Hechavarria and Villanueva pitching. Top 1st: Jennings leading off, first pitch HIGH, very high pop up to Escobar, Upton fly ball to Davis, two down for Zobrist, ball four. Longoria one on two down, there goes Zobrist, throw gets him. Nice throw Jeff. Bottom 1st: Davis leading off, takes strike three. Rasmus, grounds back to Moore throw to Scott at first, two down. Encarnacion ball four, pitching Edwin away, I think that will be the mantra this weekend, sorry Edwin. Lind, goes opposite way singles to Jennings in left, Escobar, ball four to load the bases, Johnson with two down, there we go singles to Fuld right. Here comers two, 2-0 Jays. Escobar to 3B, Johnson stand up double. Sierra takes strike three, have to swing at that one Moises. Top 2nd: Longoria, singles to Davis in left, Joyce singles to Sierra in right, Keppinger bunting to Hech at 3B and moves them both up. Two in scoring position and only one down. Scott, pops up to Mathis behind the plate, two down for Lobaton, takes strike three. Whoa. Bottom 2nd Mathis leading off, strikes out swinging, Hech fly ball to Fuld in right, two down Davis, singles to Upton in centre, Rasmus two down, fly ball to Upton in centre for third out. Top 3rd Fuld strikes out swinging, Jennings takes strike three, Upton takes strike three. Strikes out the side, and four in a row. Nice pitching. Bottom 3rd Edwin strikes out swinging, Lind, fly ball to Jennings in left, 2 down. Escobar grounds to Zobrist at short, safe at first. Johnson, singles to Jennings in left, Escobar to 3B on the play, Sierra grounds to Longoria at 3B, throw to second to get Johnson. Top 4th Zobrist takes strike three, 5 in a row for Villanueva, Carlos on a roll here. Longoria strikes out swinging, number six. Joyce fly ball to Davis in left for the third out. Breaks the string of strikeouts but Carlos will not mind, it was an out. Bottom 4th Mathis fly ball to Upton in centre, one down. Hech strikes out swinging, two down. Davis fly ball to Flud in right and Jays go three up and down. Moore also settling in but he is the one behind in the score. Top 5th Keppinger singles to Sierra in right, one on for Scott strikes out swinging, one down one on for Lobaton, bounces slowly to Escobar, no throw, not sure about that one Yunel. Maybe not a good grip no the ball but from where we were sitting looked a possible double play. Meantime two on one down for Flud, fly ball to Davis in left, runners hold, two down. Jennings same again fly ball to Davis in left to end the inning. Pitch count mounting but they are off the scoreboard so far. Bottom 5th Rasmus strikes out swinging, Edwin fly ball to Upton in centre, gave it a ride but out at the wall, just not far enough, two down. Lind, grounds to Keppinger at second, throw to Scott for the out at first. Top 6th Upton fly ball to Rasmus in centre, one down for Zobrist, singles to Sierra in right, one on one down for Longoria. Perfect, grounds to Escobar, over to Johnson on to Edwin double play to end this inning. Maybe the end of Villanueva over 90 pitch count. They have not been stretching him out so far this season mindful of last year when his arm broke down with over use. The last they think they need is for this guy to go down. Bottom 6th Escobar leading off, strikes out swinging, one down for Johnson grounds to Keppinger at second over to Scott. Two down for Sierra, keeps it going, singles to Jennings in left. Mathis ball four, two on here comes the pitching coach. Hech grounds to Zobrist at short, throw to Scott for third out, Jays leave two more out there. Top 7th That is it for Carlos tonight, over to the bullpen and why not, Darren Oliver now pitching. Ryan Roberts pinch hitting for Joyce, strikes out swinging, not happy, neither is his manager I assume. Keppinger, fly ball to Rasmus, two down. Scott, strikes out swinging. Oliver does his usual excellent stuff. Bottom 7th Wade Davis replaces Moore. Davis to Davis, ha, strikes out swinging, one down, Rasmus now the right hander to face, maybe his luck will change, no pops up to Scott at first, two down for Edwin. Strikes out swinging. Moore’s four game winning streak ends. Top 8th Lincoln in for Oliver, setting up for Casey. Lobaton strikes out swinging, one down for Fuld, fly ball to Sierra in right, two down for Jennings, grounds to Johnson at second; throw to Edwin for third out. Bullpen so far doing their job and well. Bottom 8th JP Howell replacing Davis, lefty match up with Lind, pops it up to Keppinger at short, one down. Escobar singles to Fuld in right, his second hit of the night and six in the last two games. Not complaining here. Johnson, Escobar running and Kelly singles to right, but looks as if the ball hit Escobar as something deflected it right to Keppinger, now the umpires are conferring, waving Maddon off as he storms out of the dugout below. Yes they are calling Yunel out, interference as the ball hit him although it bounced right to Keppinger. If it had not hit him that would have been at least a single with Yunel to third. The baseball gods. Sierra, now Maddon comes out again. Pitching change this time, Badenhop for Howell. These managers are getting more and more like the time wasters in NY and Boston. Ball four, that did not help Maddon much. Two on two down for Mathis, takes strike three, ouch Jeff. Top 9th Last hurrah for the Rays. Casey Janssen out to try for save number 18, wow can you imagine that. Upton, strikes out swinging, one down for Zobrist, fly ball to Sierra, two down, on our feet, Longoria, ball one, fly ball to Sierra and the game is over. Jays win another huge victory 2-0.Three of the last four. Rays are fighting hard to get that wild card and every game is crucial for them especially against so called:”weaker sub-.500 teams at the bottom of the division. But Jays deserved this one. Great shutout pitching by Villanueva and the bullpen. The excellent: Has to be Villanueva with his performance, at one stage six strikeouts in a row which set the tone but also the rest of the bullpen. Oliver, Lincoln and Janssen one shutout inning each. Kelly Johnson tonight's unlikely hitting hero with the two RBIs but also his 3/4 hit night. Escobar and Johnson 5 of the 8 hits by the Jays tonight, weird. 4 walks by Jays tonight. showing some patience at the plate. 1-5 RISP. That could have been better. 9 scoreless innings to help everyone’s ERA but they earned it. Not good: The poor lady who was hit by the ball and had to leave the game, you can’t ignore those foul balls hit behind you, you have to watch the bounce because so many times it comes back off the seats and also the concrete levels, and then can go anywhere, but you have to turn around friends for those balls. That being said I hope you are ok, it did not look too serious as you were walking.