Rajai Davis Bails Out Bullpen; Blue Jays Complete Sweep Of Mariners
For the 2nd time in 3 games, Rajai Davis has managed to come off the bench to provide timely late-game heroics – this time bailing out another bullpen meltdown, and helping the Blue Jays complete a 3-game sweep of the lowly Mariners in a 7-5 victory that nearly ended in a total disaster.
Unfortunately, the late win took away another W for Jays starter Ricky Romero, who threw 7 innings of dominant ball before having the wheels come off in the 8th. To contrast – Romero had allowed just a run on 3 hits and 3 walks while striking out 9 through 7 innings, and the Jays had a comfortable 5-1 lead headed into the 8th inning. Romero would wind up loading the bases with a walk and a pair of singles (one of which was fielded poorly by Romero himself). All of those runners would wind up scoring, although you couldn’t really totally blame Romero for that one. Casey Janssen, who had just returned to the Jays on Tuesday and looked good while earning the win, gave up the 4-run lead with one pitch, a poorly placed breaking ball right in Miguel Olivo’s wheelhouse that the Mariners catcher turned into a grand slam.
It was almost shocking when it happened, mostly because of how quickly everything unraveled on the mound for Romero and Janssen. Romero would have to settle for a no decision final line of 7.1 IP with 4 ER on 5 hits and 4 walks, and Janssen exited without getting an out after allowing two more hits and looked on the verge of flat-out giving the game away. Fortunately, he was bailed out by Jon Rauch, who came in and got the two outs needed to keep the game tied.
Instead of letting the disappointment of the bullpen blowing yet another late lead undo the team’s hard work however, the Blue Jays offense got right back at it. With 2 outs, Mike Mccoy – the team’s human yo-yo – laced a double down the 3rd base line to keep the inning going. After Yunel Escobar walked to put runners at 1st and 2nd, Rajai Davis – who had come off the bench to pinch run for the ailing ankle of Eric Thames (more on that later) – came through with a line-drive double to centre-right, scoring both baserunners and restoring the Jays lead at 7-5.
Rauch, who threw just 8 pitches to get the team out of the 8th, stayed in to pitch a mostly clean 9th inning to earn the win, and the Blue Jays got to exit the homestand on a high, having earned their 3rd series sweep of the season. There is another 6-game homestand on the schedule next week, but the bluebirds will head south first to Arlington, Texas for a 3-game series against the Rangers this weekend. Jo-Jo Reyes, whose last outing against the Rangers resulted in 6 runs (all unearned!) over lasted just 2.2 innings, will start the series off tomorrow. So…yeah. Looks like we’ll have to try for a 2-out-of-3 series win?
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