To start a wacky & wild bottom of the 9 inning with the Jays up 3-1 and the Jays bring in Frank Francisco out of the bullpen instead of Jon Rauch which surprised me as it is always a good test to get out there and get the job next time as soon as possible to put the last bad outing behind him but not tonight in the eyes of manger John Farrell. So the first Rays batter up is yeasterday's hero B.J. Upton and here's where it gets weird as Upton gets caught looking @ strike 3 but the reply and Upton disagree as it looked off the plate on the inside corner and after the call Upton turns to the umpire Chad Fairchild and points a finger towards him and says something she probably shouldn't have as he is immediately tossed from the game and another Ray escorts him into the dugout. Then Casey Kotchman steps to the plate and walks and then Elliot Johnson steps to the plate and strikes out swinging for out #2 and then John Jaso walks which brings Sam Fuld to hits a ball to Johnny Mac who gets a glove on it but not completely and Casey Kotchman scores to make it 3-2. This brings out the Jays pitching coach which in the end brings like almost all the infielders to the mound for a meeting but Francisco gets Ben Zobrist ground out to Adam Lind to end the game and Frank Francisco earns his first save as a Jay.
The Jays started the game off with a bang which just happened to come off Adam Lind's bat after Rajai Davis opened the game with a single and then stole his 7 base and with 2 outs Adam Lind cranked his 6 homer of the season and 5 on this road trip to give the Jays a quick 2-0 lead. In the 4 inning Edwin Encarnacion lead off with a single and then David Cooper got his 3Rd hit in the majors which was a RBI double to give the Jays a 3-0 lead.
The starting pitcher for the Jays was Brandon Morrow who was somewhat cruising through until the 6 inning as he gave up 3 walks and a hit but in the 6 inning Ben Zobrist lead off with a double and Johnny Damon flies to center and Ben Zobrist moves to third and after a walk to Evan Longoria and it is runners on the corners and one out and next batter Matt Joyce gets a sac fly and it is 3-1 and B.J. Upton is called out on strikes to end the inning. Then in the 7 inning Dan Johnson lines out to Johnny Mac which sandwiched between a fielding error on Yunel Escobar and line drive single by John Jaso and it is first and second with one out and Jason Frasor on for Morrow along with Sam Fuld @ the plate and hits the ball to Edwin Encarnacion who stepped on third for the force and then throw to first and at first Fuld was called safe but the Umpires got together and ruled that Fuld was out @ first and the 7 inning was over.
Jays starter Brandon Morrow pitched 6.1 innings pitched and gave up 5 hits but more importantly gave up 4 walks but did strike out 7 Rays batters and gave up only that one earned run and got his first win of the season while Rays starter Jeff Niemann pitched 4 innings and gave up all 3 earned runs on 6 hits with no Ks or walks but one huge homer that was the difference in the game.
The Jays have guaranteed themselves a 500 road trip with one more game left in Tampa with Kyle Drabek (2-1, 4.45 ERA) taken the mound against David Price (3-3, 3.95) but the real story is Marc Zrepczynski and his striking out the side in the 8 inning and only given up a base hit and it is his second straight scoreless 8 inning and he may be claiming the 8 inning for the time being.
Tough get back home game match-up but Kyle Drabek can put on a clinic as much as anyone else
Tom Mehegan
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