Shaun Marcum Gets Run Support, Wins for the First Time Since 2008

After scoring three runs on just five hits on Saturday, the Blue Jays offence came back to life on Sunday afternoon, scoring nine runs on 13 hits, including three homeruns (one each from Seabass, Fred Lewis and Aaron Hill), six doubles and a triple.  The game was never really in doubt, as the Jays took a four-run lead in the bottom of the first and tacked on another two in the second.  By the end of the fourth inning, the Jays had a commanding 9-1 lead and they were able to coast through the second half of the game.  Shaun Marcum came out in the seventh, which Rommie Lewis finished.  Lewis pitched the eighth as well and Josh Roenicke came on to finish the game with a scoreless ninth.

On the pitching side, Shaun Marcum did seem to tire a bit in the seventh, but still had a strong performance, finishing the day pitching 6 1/3 innings, striking out six, walking four and yielding six hits (all singles).  He's looked great so far this year, so let's just hope he keeps it up.  Of Marcum's 105 pitches, 69 were strikes, sticking mainly to his two-seamer, his cutter and his change, but mixing a few curves in as well.

At the plate, everyone got at least one hit, except for Adam Lind and Jose Bautista.  Hill really seems to be back on track, going 3-4 today with an homerun, a double and a walk.  John Buck doubled three times, Johnny Mac doubled and tripled and Vernon Wells got in on the action as well, going 2-4 with a double.  As mentioned above, Fred Lewis and Alex Gonzalez both homered.

Rommie Lewis bailed Shaun Marcum out by stranding his two uninherited runners, but ended up giving up two runs of his own in the eighth.  The game was essentially won by that time and Lewis's WPA (thanks to stranding Marcum's runners, as well as the size of the lead at the time) was actually positive (.007), in spite of his final line (1 2/3 IP, 2 K, 0 BB, 3 H, 2 ER).  All in all, he came out and threw strikes (19 of his 24 pitches), which is what the Jays needed from him today.  Roenicke looked good in the ninth, getting two grounders and a flyout.

Jays of the Day are Seabass (.116), Marcum (.107) and Hill (.102) with honourable mention going to V-dub, Lewis, Mac and Buck for strong offensive performance all-around.

This win brings the Jays back up to .500 (13-13), which is good reason for some optimism.  It's still possible, but this really doesn't look like a team that will be losing 95 games.  The Jays play in Cleveland tomorrow.  Brett Cecil will be dealing for the Jays and the Indians send Mitch Talbot (3-1, 2.05 ERA) to the bump.  Talbot's been pretty fortunate thusfar, he does get a lot of grounders, but he's also struck out just seven and walked 11 en route to a 4.79 FIP.  Let's hope his luck runs out tomorrow.