The Jays won their second straight today in the Sixth City behind a strong offensive performance.
On the Mound:
Ricky Romero had an interesting game. He clearly had some command issues, but battled through 6, striking out 9 and walking just two, though also hitting a batter and uncorking 3 wild pitches and an errant pickoff attempt. He gave up all 5 Indians runs. The third inning was really the problem for Romero, he allowed 6 straight hitters to reach base that inning, and that's never good.
At the Plate:
The Jays got on the board early when Fred Lewis (2-5 with a walk and a double) and Aaron Hill (2-6) singled in the top of the first, Adam Lind (0-5 with a walk) moved them over, and Vernon Wells (3 walks and a sac fly) managed to drive Lewis home. The Jays had a big 4th inning (though it could have been bigger) when Jose Bautista (2-3 with a walk and home run) homered in his second straight game and then Vernon Wells drew a bases-loaded walk. Unfortunately the Jays missed a chance to break things open when they failed to do anything after that. The Jays, though, weren't done scoring. Travis Snider (3-5 with two doubles and looking very good at the plate lately) doubled Jose Bautista home in the 5th, and Alex Gonzalez (1-4 with a BB) did the same for Vernon Wells in the 6th. Fred Lewis returned the favor for Snider by doubling him home in the 7th, and Lyle Overbay (1-3 with two walks) added an RBI single later that inning. All in all, a very impressive offensive performance with extra-base hitting, 9 walks, and even a couple of steals. Sure, they left 20 men on base, but it's exciting enough that they were on base in the first place.
From the Pen:
The Jays' bullpen continued its strong performance by slamming the door on Cleveland's comeback attempt. Shawn Camp got a couple of outs in the 7th, Scott Downs finished the 7th and pitched a strong 8th, and Kevin Gregg closed things out smoothly. Very impressive way to quiet the Indians in what had, to that point, been a very rocky game.
All in all, a great game. Not all the starts are going to be shut-down domination, and credit to Romero for gutting it out. Pretty impressive in its own way to get 9 strikeouts on a day where he wasn't really clicking. Bautista, Snider, Wells, and Gonzalez are the Jays of the day, while Scott Downs receives a well-earned honourable mention.
Following up on Johnny's game thread, todays title also comes from Serenity.