So last night with 6 relievers in the pen Ricky Romero went 8.1 innings and gave up 4 hits and 3 walks (all the walks in the first two innings) and then 9Ks while throwing 126 pitches and 87 of those for strikes in 3-0 Blue Jays victory to tie up the series and he could have had his second complete game of the season except that with one out in the ninth Vladimir Guerrero struck out on a wild pitch and J.P. was not able to find it and Guerrero was safe at first and then Derek Lee was hit by a pitch to make it first and second and Ricky went to sit down in the dugout. Jon Rauch then came in and throw five pitches to save the game as Matt Wieters lined out and Mark Reynolds flied out to Travis Snider to give him his first victory in just over a month and J.P. hit his 16th homer in the fourth while Jose Bautista was back in the lineup and got a RBI in the first and Eric Thames had a RBI in the third inning.
Tonight it was Carlos Villanueva turn to win his first game in July but it did not start very well as in the first the Orioles were hitting the ball long and hard as J.J. Hardy lead off with a homer which was followed by Nick Markakis hit a ball long enough and flirted with the foul pole but went inches foul and with two outs Vladimir Guerrero hit massive shot into the 500 level but foul and then he lonely comes back with a ball he hit just enough to get into the bullpen and the Orioles lead 2-0. In the bottom of the first Edwin Encarnacion who days seem to be numbered with Lawrie destroying Las Vegas walked in a run and Then Eric Thames came to the plate with bases loaded for the second time in the series and had a sac fly to tie the game at 2. In the bottom of the third Encarnacion and Thames went back-to-back with homers which was the sixth time the Jays had gone back-to-back this season and later J.P. had a two-run double and the Jays were up 6-2 but Villanueva had his problems in the fifth as Robert Andino lead off with a walk and it was followed by a double by J.J. Hardy and with one out Adam Jones hit a two-run single to make it 6-4 after which Villanueva got out of it. In the bottom of the inning the Jays got a gift run as the Jays had runners on the corners and the Orioles catcher throw down to Mark Reynolds at third to try and catch Encarnacion napping instead it was Reynolds who was napping and missed the throw and it was his 21st error to match his homers and Encarnacion scored and then Yunel Escobar singled Snider bulldogged his way to score and make it 8-4 Jays and in the ninth the Orioles got one back as J.J. Hardy hit his second of the game and fourth of the series to make the final 8-5.
Carlos Villanueva played well as he pitched five innings and he gave up 2 hits and a walk between the second and fourth innings with no runs scoring and finished with 4 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks and a K over his outing which was good enough to help the Jays win the series and Adam Lind took a sure hit away from Robert Andino as looped into no mans land but Lind got there and made the catch as he moved away from the infield and he doubled up the run at first to end the top of the sixth.
Just before Wednesday game against the Orioles the Jays made a huge move as they sent Jason Frasor and Zach Stwart to the White Soxs for Canadian Mark Teahan an utility player and starter Edwin Jackson who they flipped to the Cards with Cory Patterson, Marc Rzepczynski, and Octavio Dotel for center fielder Colby Rasmus along Trever Miller, P.J. Walters, and the returning Brian Tallet. So basically the deal is Colby Rasmus for basically guys that were not likely in the Jays future and a prospect in Zach Stewart and really the deal will depend on if Rasmus can be the everyday center fielder or will Zach Stewart find his way to the majors to stay with the Cards and will not really know how this deal works for a few more seasons but the almost 25 year old Rasmus can get his problems into his past like Escobar he maybe a keeper.
Jays are 26-25 @ home now
Tom Mehegan
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