Cleveland Indians 2, Blue Jays 1
Well, that was an heartbreaker. The team did manage to get seven hits off Cliff Lee, but unfortunately they only managed one run, off a Scott Rolen homer. Lee needed 112 pitches to throw a complete game, struck out four and didn't walk any. Rolen's homer in the bottom of the seventh did put the team on top 1-0 and put Brett Cecil, who struck out nine and walked four over seven scoreless innings, in line for the win.
Accardo nailed down a 1-2-3 eighth and it looked like the Jays would pull out the win in spite of a meagre showing at bat, however, Ryan Garko managed to just leg out an infield single between Scoot and Rolen (who was guarding the line against a double) to lead off the ninth. Then Grady Sizemore sacrifice bunted to first, but Overbay, trying to nab the lead runner, overthrew Scutaro and the ball sailed into leftcentre. The Jays intentionally walked Asdrubal Cabrera to load the bases with none out. It looked like their luck might be changing when Downs induced a grounder from Shin-Soo Choo to Rolen for the force at home, but Victor Martinez doubled home the game-tying and winning runs. Downs managed to escape from the inning (thanks to a nice play by Rolen to get a force at second), but the Jays came up empty against Lee in the ninth.
Vernon Wells almost doubled down the line to lead off the ninth (but the ball went foul and he ended up flying out), Rolen hustled out an infield single, Overbay popped out in foul territory on the first pitch and Rios ended it with a grounder to second. It was a pretty tough way to lose. For what it's worth only one of the runs charged to Downs was earned, but he could have been sharper (though I did feel like the strike zone shrank a bit, then again, I am a Jays fan, I'm sure Indians fans thought it was fair).
Jays of the Day go to Cecil (.453), who settled down quite well after a bit of a rocky start, Rolen (.249), who got the on the board with his homer and reached in the bottom of the ninth and Accardo (.124), who nailed down the eighth. The Batista Award goes, of course, to Downs (-.622) and the Hinskes go to Rios (-.133), Overbay (-.188) and Boo Wells (-.232). Had Overbay's bat not earned him the Hinske, his error in the ninth would have solidified it for him. Hill also missed a tag in the top of the 7th on a Victor Martinez double, but made up for it with a nice play on a grounder from the very next batter. Yeah, Martinez killed us tonight. His WPA was .518.
Oh well, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains. Tonight, we lost. Let's get 'em tomorrow. Ricky Romero starts against Carl Pavano, who kept the Jays at bay once last season (it seemed like all they did was hit line drives at guys) but didn't get through four innings the next time. Frustrating as it is to drop this one, at least Cecil pitched well and Cliff Lee is the reigning Cy Young Award winner after all.