Romero sinks to the bottom with one inning performance as Jays lose this one despite excellent relief from Jenkins and Laffey

. Rays v Jays. Game series finale. Jays will not lose the series but they have a chance although slim against Price (16-5) to win the series. Unless Romero is lights out today this will be a very tough one to win. Very small crowd do they know something today? Lineups: Rays: Jennings, Upton, Zobrist, Longoria, Keppinger, Francisco, Pena, Roberts, Molina and Price pitching. Jays: Davis, Rasmus, Encarnacion, Lind, Escobar, Torrealba, Sierra, McCoy, Hechavarria and Romero pitching. Top 1st: Jennings, 2-2 count, singles into left. Upton, bunting and McCoy make great flip to Lind for the out. That was a great bunt. Zobrist runner in scoring position. There goes Jennings and throw not in time. Jennings at 3B. Romero in early trouble, Rays are running today. Full count, fly ball to Sierra, whoa. Jennings tags but goes back. Reputation for Moises, another life Ricky. Two down for Longoria. Lines it to the wall in left, Davis waves at it, RBI double for Longoria. 1-0 Rays. Joyce, 1-1 count, grounds to Escobar, great throw by Yunel to Lind to rescue Romero, but one run may be all that Price needs today going for win number 17 today. Pitch count 18 for Romero. Bottom 1st: Davis, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging after being 2-0 in the count. One down for Rasmus. This is the guy Jays needs today I think. Pops it up to Pena two down. Encarnacion, 2-2 count, fly ball to right for the out. Three up and down for Price. Bad news for the Jays this guy is on today. Pitch count 13. Top 2nd: Ex-Jay Ben Francisco, 1-2 count, Goodbye to this one, hammers it high to left and into the Jays bullpen. No doubt about that one. 2-0 Rays. Pena, full count, way outside ball four, and hits the umpire on the foot, good luck Ricky on close calls. Umpire in pain here. One on nobody out for Roberts. 2-1 count, high pop up to left, Davis hesitates and Roberts to second, Pena to 3B. Two more in scoring position and still nobody out, Romero in deep here now. Molina, outside. 2-2 count, singles to Rasmus in centre, 3-0 Rays as Pena scores. Molina at 1B with Roberts at 3B. Chance now for double play. Top of three order Jennings. Singles first pitch into centre, here comes the boos, 4-0 Jays. Her comes pitching coach, not sure what Pete Walker can do, we have seen Romero like this all season, nothing evidently works with him apart from replacement, Farrell obviously agrees. Now the bullpen already working. Upton fly ball to Sierra cannot see in the sun, and drops the ball, error, and Molina to 3B. Bases loaded. Zobrist, singles into left, two more runs, 6-0 Rays and that is it for Romero. One inning wow, that is rock bottom for Romero. Loads of boos and who can blame them. You can’t put your offense in this situation against someone like Price as well. Chad Jenkins now pitching. Still nobody out and two on base. Longoria, first pitch fly ball to Davis, makes the out but runners move up. One down for Keppinger, two in scoring position, grounds to Hech at 3B throw to Lind for the second out as run scores, 7-0 Rays. Francisco started this inning with that home run. 0-2 count, there we go, strikes out looking, three pitches for Jenkins. At least Jenkins stops the flood. Bottom 2nd: Lind, takes ball four, one on for Escobar, Yunel takes ball four. Back to back walks by Price, must be unsettled with such a big lead. Torrealba with two on and nobody out, fly ball to Jennings in left, both runners hold. One down two on for Sierra, grounds to Longoria, throw to Pena to get Sierra as both runners move up and into scoring position. Jays get something going here. McCoy, ball to load them up. Maybe a little intentional there to get to Hech. High bouncer to Zobrist at short, throw to Pena. Jays leave bases loaded and two in scoring position. They cannot afford to do this against Price and such a huge lead, they have to take their opportunities. Top 3rd: Pena leading off, first pitch gets hold of this one, line drive to centre and say goodbye to this one, home run Pena to make it 8-0 Rays. Roberts, grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind one down. Molina, grounds to Hech, throw to Lind, two down. Top of the order again, Jennings. Pops it up to McCoy at second to end the inning but Rays add one more. Bottom 3rd: Davis, takes strike three. Rasmus, hits him on the shirt, that is always such a weird call to me at least. One on one down for Edwin. Lines it to left but Jennings makes the out. Two down for Lind, strikes out swinging to end the inning. Top 4th: Upton, strikes out swinging, one down. Zobrist, grounds back to Jenkins, nice grab and throw to Lind, two down. Longoria, 2-2 count, lines this one to left and fan touches it, ground rule double called. Farrell out to argue but no good, may have been arguing whether it was fair when it crossed the bag. Keppinger, grounds to Escobar ranging to his left and throw not in time, good play though Yunel to get to it. Longoria to 3rd as Keppinger safe at first. Francisco, hammering these pitches to left, finally hammers this one to right centre over Rasmus and bounces over the wall another ground rule double and here comes Longoria, Francisco using Jays pitchers as batting practice here. 9-0 Rays, the beat goes on. Jenkins, intentional walk to Pena. Two on Roberts, pops it up to McCoy covering behind Lind in foul ground to finally end this one, when he had Longoria at 2-2 count. . Rays get another. Bottom 4th: Escobar leading off fouls this off Molina and he is down, looked like his right collar bone, that really hurt him Trainer out carrying on. Lines next pitch off his mask, Escobar pats him on the head in sympathy, takes strike three. One down for Torrealba, singles to Francisco in right. Sierra fly ball to Francisco, one down one on. McCoy, lines this one to left stand up double as Torrealba gets to 3rd on the play. Oh for more speed. Hech, grounds to Roberts throw to Pena for third out. Jays strand yet another. They are getting to Price but unable to finish it off with runs. Top 5th: Molina, grounds to Hech throw to Lind, one down. Jennings singles to Rasmus, one on for Upton grounds to Hech throw to McCoy at 2nd to get Jennings, Upton safe at 1st. Zobrist singles to Davis in left, Upton stops at 2nd. Longoria two on two down, pops it up to Escobar to end the inning. Rays do not score this inning, that is something to celebrate today. Bottom 5th: Davis grounds back to Price, throw to Pena one down. Rasmus, pops it up to Zobrist at short. Edwin strikes out swinging to end the three up and down inning. Top 6th: Here come the subs. Scott pinch hitting for Keppinger, strikes out swinging, one down. Francisco, fly ball to Rasmus in centre, two down. Pena, singles to Davis in left. Roberts fly ball to Rasmus to end the inning. Bottom 6th: More subs, in fact most of the bench. Thompson in left. Fuld in centre. Elliot Johnson playing at third base. Price remains in there, chance to lower that ERA. Lind, pops it up to Pena at first. Escobar, singles to Francisco in right. Torrealba, grounds back to Price, throw to Pena for the out but Escobar moves up to 2nd. Sierra grounds to Brignac, throw to Pena to end the inning. Top 7th: Laffey replacing Jenkins who did superb job holding them to only two more runs after the 1st inning, wow. That is excellent Chad. Not your fault the hitters have not come through for you today. Molina, ball four leadoff walk for Laffey. Fuld, fly ball to Davis in left, one down. Johnson, wild pitch and Molina moves up a base to 2nd. Grounds to Escobar, throw to third to get the (very) slow Molina. Two down for Thompson, singles to Davis in left. Johnson to 2nd. Brignac strikes out swinging. Bottom 7th: McCoy pops it up to Pena, one down. Hech grounds to Johnson at third base, off his glove and throw is high Hech safe at 1st. One on one down for Davis, 3-1 count, outside ball four, two on one down. Rasmus, pops a soft fly ball to Brignac, and Colby safe at 1st. Bases loaded for Edwin. 1-2 count, this will do, pops it up behind first base line, Pena makes the catch but horrible offline throw with four bounces to the catcher. Hech tags and scores, finally Jays get one, 9-1, that ruins the shutout and ERA for Price. Davis at 3rd. Lind, 0-2 count, grounds high bouncing ball to short, Price and Brignac collide, back to Price, here comes Rajai to score, 9-2 rays Colby to 3rd on the play and bases stay loaded. That was not pretty play, Price should have left that to Brignac. Here comes Maddon to rescue him, with bases still loaded, pitching change before a potential grand slam and six runs against his record. Badenhop now pitching. Escobar, grounds to Brignac at short, throw to Roberts for third out at second base. Jays get two but strand three, the story of the game today for the offensive bats. Price may be wishing Maddon had rescued him before the two runs ruined his ERA. Top 8th: Scott, pops up to Torrealba for the out. One down for Francisco, ball four, one on one down for Pena, takes strike three, two down. Roberts, strikes out swinging to end the inning. Bottom 8th: Giminez now catching for Molina. Torrealba, grounds to Brignac at short, throw to Pena at first, one down. Sierra, strikes out swinging, two down. McCoy grounds to Elliot Johnson at third, throw to Pena to end the inning. Three up and down. Top 9th: Gimenez, singles to Davis in left, one on for Fuld, another single to left, two on nobody out. Elliot Johnson, full count, fly ball to Sierra for the out as Giminez tags and goes to 3rd. Thompson, perfect grounds to Escobar, takes it himself to the bag and throw to Lind for double play ball to end the inning. Bottom 9th: Cesar Ramos now pitching for Badenhop. Hech leading off, grounds to Johnson at 3B, throw to Pena at first. One down. Davis, grounds to Roberts at second, throws to Pena at first, two down for Rasmus, goes the opposite way and singles to Thompson in left. One on two down for Edwin, this one is up, high fly ball to left and out of here, home run for Edwin, number 37 and Jays get two back, 9-4 game. Lind, goes after his pitch and high fly ball to Flud in centre at the wall for the out. Almost but not quite. Jays lose big 9-4 but post Romero, they beat the Rays 4-2. Point to show the difference Romero is making on this team. Something has to be done or will they send him out for his last five starts? Tough choice, but I don’t see many buying tickets for a Romero game right now. $ may dictate the decision regardless of hurting Romero’s feelings, when did emotion ever dictate business decisions? The excellent: Start with Jenkins, five relief innings with Rays in full flow and basically ties them down to only 2 runs in five innings. 57 pitches with 42 strikes. Laffey three scoreless innings 53 pitches. In fact in the 8 relief innings Rays scored twice whilst Jays replied with four. Excellent relief. And puts the Romero outing in a different perspective. The not so good: RISP for the Jays today a horrible 2 for 8. Half of them would have made this score very close. They get six hits and four walks off Price but only two runs. Price was not dominant today but Jays could not take advantage. The Sierra error also cost them two runs. Has to have his shades down in this sun. The awful, terrible, very worst of all: Ricky Romero. One inning, eight hits and seven runs on 43 pitches. What is the answer? Does he go out again and keep on going out for his last five starts this month and to the end of the season? I say no way, but Farrell will say yes way. Pitcher’s manager. Maybe Alex will have his say.