Aaron Laffey And Five Relievers Put Up 0's Against The O's

The Toronto Blue Jays have won two games in a row--the last time they did that was back September 5-9 when they won 4 games in a row (after losing 4 games in a row). And as Redonred mentioned in the GameThread, the Blue Jays are 1-0 with SBNation United.

Aaron Laffey started the game for the Blue Jays and looked sharp, until John Farrell took him out with 2 outs in the bottom of the 6th after an Adam Jones infield hit. Take a look at this GIF from The Blue Jay Hunter: shortstop Yunel Escobar made a good attempt at it ("fruit yea," says Laffey) but Jones was safe, hustling into first ("fruit no," adds Laffey).

Laffey was only at 62 pitches, having given up no runs on 5 hits. He did not strike out or walk anybody. I'm not sure why Farrell has been so short on Laffey lately especially when he has been pitching well. He threw 62 and 60 pitches on September 8 and 14, respectively, even though he was holding the Red Sox to 3 runs or fewer. When he gave up 5 runs against the Yankees on the 20th, he was left in the game until he reached 86 pitches.

Righty Steve Delabar was brought in to face switch hitter Matt Wieters who grounded out weakly to Yan Gomes at first to end the 6th, but was less effective in the 7th when he allowed a double to Chris Davis and then a walk to rookie Manny Machado. Brett Cecil was brought in to face 42-year old pinch hitter Jim Thome, whom he struck out on 3 pitches. Next on the parade of relievers were Brandon Lyon and Darren Oliver, who combined for 1.1 hitless innings.

On the offensive side, Yan Gomes, Adeiny Hechavarria, Colby Rasmus, and Edwin Encarnacion each had an RBI. Every hitter had at least 1 hit and four (Yunel Escobar, Yan Gomes, Rajai Davis, and J.P. Arencibia) had 2. The Jays were able to get 11 hits against Orioles starter Joe Saunders, and 13 hits overall, but scored only 4 runs because they left 15 on base.

Casey Janssen was called on in the 9th to preserve the 4-0 lead. It wasn't a save situation, but Janssen has only one of those in the whole month of September (on the 9th against Red Sox). Janssen was unusually shaky, especially after a Yunel Escobar error allowed Mark Reynolds to reach, walking both Machado and Thome to load the bases for Ryan Flaherty. But Janssen calmed us all down by popping up Flaherty on the first pitch of the at bat.

The last place Blue Jays (now just .5 games out of 4th!) handed the wild card-leading Orioles their first shutout since August 3. Not bad for a team who has fans complaining that "they're not even trying anymore."

The highlight of the game was found in the top of the 7th, Edwin Encarnacion stroke an single to RF Chris Davis. Anthony Gose scored, but when Colby Rasmus was gunned down on a deadly accurate throw from Davis and a quick tag by 3B Machado.

I didn't keep count, but it looked like Yunel Escobar fielded at least 10 outs this game. That kind of excuses him for his 9th inning error.

Jays of the Day! Aaron Laffey (+.341), Yan Gomes (squeaked in with +.100). No suckage Jays today.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the first GameThread of the new United format. We had fun there tonight. This was the first time the Orioles have been shutout since August 3. See you all tomorrow at 7 pm eastern for the final game of this series!