The Jays are now 5-1 in extra innings this season as the Blue Jays bats came alive in the 11 inning which was lead by Jose Bautista's first opposite field homer to break a 3-3 tie going into the inning and the 2 run jack (13 on the season to lead the majors) were the first 2 runs scored in a inning that the Jays scored 6 runs and 7 straight batters reached base to open the inning before the first out was recorded and the Twins trotted out 4 pitchers in the 11 inning. Twins pitchers gave up 4 hits and 4 walks in the 11 inning and besides Bautista opposite field shot the only other extra base hit in the inning was J.P. 5 double of the season that scored 2 runs and Jon Rauch pitched 2 innings to pick up the win and Shawn Camp put the Twins down 1-2-3 in the bottom of 11 inning but most of the 39,000 left in the top of the 11 inning.
The first inning for both the Jays Jo Jo Reyes and the Twins Nick Blackburn as Yunel Escobar grounded to shortstop Trevor Plouffe who throw the ball wildly to first but in the Escobar ended up being created a hit and Cory Patterson bunted him to second where Escobar stole third and then Jose Bautista reached on a throwing error on third baseman Danny Valencia as Escobar scored and the ball did not leave the infield in the top of the first as Bautista was caught napping and was picked off and Juan Rivera strike out first of his Golden Sombrero (4 strikeouts). In the bottom of the inning Denard Span lead off with a walk and Trevor Plouffe followed with a bunt single down the third baseline where Justin Morneau hit a ball between first and second that the defense was not ready for as David Cooper picked up and because Jo Jo fell towards the third baseline on his follow through was not in position to receive the David Cooper throw over at first and Cooper was charged with a throwing error as the ball went into the camera bay and Span scored to tie the game @ 1. The play would of been made if Arron Hill had called off Cooper and gotten the ball and Cooper was on the bag for the throw but then the Twins took the lead on the first ball out of the infield as Delmon Young flied out to Rajai Davis scoring Trevor Plouffe so the Twins had a 2-1 lead going into the second inning. With one out in the second inning J.P. smacked his 6 homer a solo jack to tie it up at 2.
Jo Jo Reyes who had not won a start in 25 starts had gotten through 5 innings and a 100 pitches given up 7 hits and a walk through the first 5 innings and it was still tied at 2 but his 101 pitch he delivered to Michael Cuddyer was deposited into the outfield seats to give the Twins a 3-2 lead and after back-to-back singles to Rene Rivera and Denard Span with 2 outs Jo Jo left given up 3 runs on 10 hits and a walk along with 6 Ks. Then Marc Rzepczynski struggled throw the 7 inning given up singles to both Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer and then walked Danny Valencia to load the bases but he stuck out Luke Hughes to end the inning with no damage.
While Nick Blackburn was Cruising through 7.2 inning as he had only give up 3 hits and 1 walk while only given up a single earned run and struck out 8 batters but then Yunel Escobar stepped to the plate and grounded a ball past third baseman Danny Valencia which brought Cory Patterson to the plate and he hits a ball to deep center field and Denard Span tried to make an inning ending catch but instead he collided with the wall falling to the ground and by the time the ball got to the infield Cory Patterson was standing on third and Nick Blackburn was finished after an intentional walk to Jose Bautista and could not win the game and after Matt Capps struck out Juan Rivera to end the inning he also could not lose the game either.
The Jays are on a roll with 4 wins in a row and have meet the Twins at the right time as they have lost 7 in a row and the Jays look for the sweep as they go for their 5 in a row and a 500 record.
Tom Mehegan
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