The Blue Jays Get Their First Win Of September, Finally

Orioles 4 Blue Jays 6

It is about time we got some luck. We got a lot of it today.

In the 8th, Darren Oliver had 2 on and 1 out, when Lew Ford popped a ball up along the left field line, to a spot no one could get to. It appeared to fall right on the foul line, but 3rd base umpire Laz Diaz called it foul. He might have been right, the replays they showed us were from a long way away and they never zoomed in on the ball, but it looked fair. Then Ford grounded a ball hard, fortunately right at Adeiny Hechavarria, who made a nice play and a great throw to second to start a double play. Adeiny's defense is everything we were told it would be.

We also got some luck in our 4 run 7th. Yunel Escobar led off with a double. Kelly Johnson follows with a bunt, but places it perfectly and beats it out. If it had just been a sac bunt we might not have scored. Yorvit Torrealba popped out, when we really needed him to bring in the run from 3rd, right after. Luckily, since Kelly didn't make an out, that was just the first out, and Adeiny Hechavarria could put down the prettiest squeeze bunt you will ever see. Yunel scored and Adeiny was safe at first. Singles from Anthony Gose and Rajai Davis scored us 3 more runs, with the help from a Adam Jones throwing error.

Brandon Morrow pitched 6 innings, giving up 3 hits, 3 walks, 2 earned, 6 strikeouts in 6 innings. He had some troubles in the 2nd inning, giving up a home run and 3 walks. Other than that inning he looked great.

Steve Delabar pitched a great 7th, striking out 2. He gave up a single to start the 8th and Oliver came in. As mentioned, Darren got a fair bit of luck, but put up a scoreless inning. Casey Janssen gave up a 2 run home in the 9th, but that's as close as he allowed the O's to get. Likely both Casey and Darren were rusty. It has been a few days since they pitched.

Jays of the Day are Johnson (.192 WPA, 2 for 4, double and the bunt single), Morrow (.160) and Rajai Davis (.158, home run and 3 RBI. Honorable mention goes to Delabar, Gose (2 for 3, with a triple, boy he can run) and Hechavarria (1 for 3, and that squeeze bunt). Suckage goes to Yorvit (-.156, 0 for 4, including the pop out with the runner on 3rd).

Nice to see some offense finally, 9 hits in all.

Early in the game, Adam Lind scored from first base on Kelly's double. I didn't think he could run all that way. It was a surprise to see him get waved home, but fun to watch him chug around the bases.

Tomorrow is an off-day. On Friday we start a 3 game series with the Red Sox in Boston. Henderson Alvarez (7-12, 5.04) starts for us. Felix Doubront (10-7, 5.03) for the Sox. I wonder if this is the weekend Bobby Valentine gets fired?

It was a fun gamethread tonight, I guess it is easier to be fun when we win, but thanks to all that took part.