3 Run Homer for Adam Lind, Jays Beat Royals

Royals 3 Blue Jays 6

I don't know what to think about Adam Lind. He has 6 hits, since coming back from Vegas, but 3 of the hits have been home runs. Some of his at bats have looked so bad, he has had 5 strikeouts to go with those 6 hits, but it is hard to complain about 3 home runs in 24 at bats. Tonight was good, 2 for 4, home run, single and 3 RBI.

All our runs came in the 4nd inning. Rajai Davis had a 2 run single, Edwin Encarnacion drove in 1 with a single and Lind had his homer. We had 13 hits on the day. Everyone in the lineup had at least 1 hit, Brett Lawrie, EE, Rajia and Lind each had 2.

Brett Cecil had 1 bad inning and 5 good ones. In the third he gave up back-to-back singles, a triple and a sac fly to put us behind by 3. The other 5 innings (plus a batter) he allowed 2 hits and 1 walk. Most of the night he seemed to keep the Royal batters off balance, changing speeds (slow and slower), and moving the ball in and out, and up and down. Some of the ups were hanging curves, but if the batter misses, all is good.

After 6 innings, Cecil was at 94 pitches. I'd have pulled him, but Farrell left him in to face the lefty Mike Moustakas, who doubled. In Farrell's defense, Jason Frasor doesn't seem to mind coming into games with runners on. Frasor got Jeff Francoeur to ground out and Salvador Perez to fly out to Jose Bautista. Jose made a great throw home, Jeff Mathis had to go up to make the catch, but Moustakas missed the plate and Mathis crawled over to tag him. Great job by both.

Darren Oliver pitched a scoreless 8th and Casey Janssen had a 3 up 3 down 9th for the easy 3 run save.

Jays of the Day are Lind (.246 WPA), Rajai (.191), Frasor (.111) and Edwin (.105, 2 for 3 and a walk). Kelly Johnson gets the Suckage (-.099) though he made a nice play on the last out of the game.

Other moments of note: Rajai was thrown out stealing by one of the best throws from a catcher you'll ever see, Perez has a good arm. Davis also, I don't know if it is because he is so fast that I think he should be much better defensively, but he let fly by Jarrod Dyson fall, when I thought he should have caught it, and then didn't cut it off, when he should have, at least, done that. He doesn't seem to get good jumps on fly balls. On the flip side, Lawrie had a couple more plays that showed he should get the Gold Glove. He is fun to watch.

Tomorrow we have Carlos Villanueva (2-0, 3.52) making his second start. Luis Mendoza (3-4, 4.50) throws for the Royals.

At the halfway point we are 41-40, pretty amazing when you consider all that has happened so far this season. Just 2 game back from the last wild card spot.