Well that was certainly more exciting then the Atlanta series. The Jays got another strong performance out of Morrow on the road, he did give up two home runs but was able to keep the Jays close through 7. Our bullpen looked great for the final two innings and the hitters decided to wake up and knocked in 5 runs which is exactly what I asked for at the start of the game. WOOHOO! Oh and apparently the grounds crew in St Louis thought they would mess with the lights to keep Jose off his game. At the start of the ninth inning with Thames at the plate a few banks of lights went out around the stadium. Maybe they had some sort of timer switch or something since they were planning fireworks at the end of the game, but this caused a fairly lengthy on-field delay. When we finally get back Jose was not all too impressed and decided to go opposite field to show it.
Hitters
Eric Thames made his return to the majors with a double in the 3rd inning, he finished the night 2-5 with 2Rs scored. He looked good on the basepaths from what I saw. Jose Molina and Aaron Hill also had two hits apiece with Hill also picking up two RBI. Corey Patterson (Pinch Hit), Adam Lind, Yunel Escobar, and Edwin Encarnacion all picked up 1 hit each with Lind driving in 2. Patterson was able to pick up another SB as well on the night. Molina did have a bit of a mishap with a passed ball that allowed a run to score, these things are seemingly happening more often with him lately..... oh who am I kidding he hasn't look great behind the plate all year and most of last year.
And then we have Jose Bautista, he looked good tonight, 2-4 3R 1HR 1BB. Lots of discussion on the site about clutch lately and how about this one? Top of the ninth in a tie game and he goes opposite field, got to love it. If Jose starts to heat up again the rest of baseball better look out, especially if Lind keeps hitting.
Overall we had 2BB and 12H on the day, we only managed to score 5 Runs off of that but hey its a start.
Pitching
Morrow continue a string of strong starts on the road going 7 innings and gettings 9Ks, he did give up 4Runs (3 earned) but he kept it close. For me one of the best parts of the night was seeing Jason Frasor and Frank Francisco come out of the pen and look absolutely fantastic. Both came out and threw one innings and each got a K. They completely shut down the end of the game and it felt good.
A great start to the series to grind out the victory here, It was the perfect way to wash the bad taste out of hte mouth after the miserable trip through Atlanta. Good job Jays.
Jays of the Day
BAUTISTA! .420, Hill .132, Frasor .102 Francisco .186
Molina just barely had the number but because of hte passed ball Im taking it away, yeah Im mean like that.
A few people have suckage awards, but I am such a good mood after the win that I don't want to hand any out.
Remember to click on the image to see other pictures from the game.