It's Like Fear and Loathing, Except on Cape Cod: Jays Beat Red Sox 11-9, Jose Bautista Sets Homerun Record

Well, that was closer than it had to be.  The Jays managed to outlast the Red Sox 11-9.

Brett Cecil was barely good enough after yielding a 2-run homer to Victor Martinez in the first inning.  He settled down and ended up lasting six innings, giving up five runs (all earned) off seven hits and two walks.  Most troubling is that he didn't strike anyone out and induced just seven groundouts to nine flyouts.  He certainly wasn't at his best, but the Jays offence bailed him out.

Speaking of the Jays offence, Jose Bautista set the new Jays' single-season homerun record tonight with his 48th, an high flyball that just managed to clear the monster.  After a season of moonshots, it hardly seems fitting that he would break the record with a floater like that one, but we'll take it.  Lot of hits for everyone this game, Yunel Escobar got four, Fred Lewis and Adam Lind had three each (two doubles for Lind), Lyle Overbay and John Buck had two apiece (both doubles for Overbay) and Jose Bautista, Vernon Wells and Edwin Encarnacion each had one.  Fred and Yunel each, swiped a bag but Lewis got picked off by Tim Wakefield, too, so the Jays about broke even on the basepath.  There was a scary moment when Aaron Hill was hit on the wrist with a pitch, but the x-rays are negative so far and it looks like it's just a bruise for now.  John McDonald came in for him and made a nice play in the eighth inning.

Out of the pen, Jason Frasor looked great coming on in relief for Cecil in the seventh, striking out two.  Connecticut native and my namesake, Jesse Carlson, walked and gave up an homerun, but Shawn Camp came on and managed to get through the eighth.  Scott Downs came on for the ninth and gave up a leadoff double but looked very sharp against the next two batters, striking out two looking, but gave up a couple another couple of hard hits before being removed for Kevin Gregg, who came on and got an easy popout to save it.

Jays of the Day go to Adam Lind (.244), Lyle Overbay (.166) and Yunel Escobar (.137) and there were no suckage awards, though that's in large part thanks to low-leverage situations for relievers.  Honourable mention goes to Bautista for setting the new record, congrats Jose!

Today's post title comes courtesy of Boston's own Piebald.