That was closer than it needed to be, but Jays beat Tigers

Tigers 4 Blue Jays 5

Not the greatest of 9th innings. Scott Downs didn't look good. Hit batter, ground rule double, k, walk and ground out to first, then Scott left the game with the tying run at the plate. Kevin Gregg came in and gave up a two run double just to add to the pressure but a strikeout finished the game. Save number 30 for Gregg. Downs had only given up 2 earned runs in the last 2 months so he's allowed an off day I guess. 

Brandon Morrow was great for his 6 innings. 4 hits, 1 walk and 9 k. The run he gave up was a solo homer for Miguel Cabrera in the 2nd. He was helped out in the first, Will Rhymes doubled to start the game then Ramon Santiago tried to bunt him to third. First inning sacrifice bunts aren't my favorite, especially with a runner on second. The ball went to Brandon who threw to Edwin Encarnacion to get the runner in a rundown. A prefect one throw rundown and they were also able get the batter who was trying to move up to second on the play. Great double play. 

After that things went easy for Brandon. He had only thrown 98 pitches when he came out of the game but with the number of innings he's given us I'm all for taking it a little easy on him. Jason Frasor pitched a perfect 7th with 2 k. Brian Tallet pitched around a single and a walk to give us a scoreless 8th.

On offense, we got 3 runs in the first, two on a Jose Bautista triple. Then 1 in the 3rd, Escobar scoring from first on a Adam Lind double. Yunel has some speed. And in the 6th Aaron Hill and Travis Snider had back-to-back doubles to get us another run. Travis scored us another run in the 4th, coming in from third on a Fred Lewis ground out, but the plate umpire blew the call at the plate badly. He was easily safe. 

We had 12 hits on the day. 3 for Travis (2 doubles and a single), 2 each for Escobar, Bautista (a triple and a double that he tried to stretch into a triple) and Adam Lind. Only Jays not to hit were Fred Lewis (who did have a walk and a steal) and Jose Molina. 

Jays of the Day are Morrow (.217 WPA), Bautista (.117) and Lind (.092). Honorable mention to Escobar and Snider. No Suckage Jays by the numbers but Downs really had a bad time of it. 

Edwin Encarnacion had an error, really the error should have been on the first base umpire. EE bounced the throw but Lind made a nice play. Lind came off the bag but got his foot back before the runner touched the bag. The second bad call that went against us. EE also made a really nice play later in the game on a ground ball deep behind the bag at third and in foul ground, picked it up nicely and made a good long throw. 

Tomorrow the series finishes up with Marc Rzepczynski going against the Tigers and Rick Porcello. 1:00 start and it is on the normal Sportsnet channels so we will be able to see it. 

Late note: EE has been put on the 15 day DL with a wrist sprain. Mike McCoy will get the call up. You'd think that would mean Travis would get to play everyday. You would be wrong. Jordan Bastian thwips:

Cito said McDonald will get bulk of playing time at 3B with Edwin sidelined. Doesn't want to move Bautista out of right field.

Cito doesn't want an outfield of Lewis-Wells-Snider. To me, that's really dumb. McDonald doesn't hit well enough to carry his glove at short never mind third.