Blue Jays 1 Orioles 2: Now Walk It Out, Now Walk It Out

Blue Jays 1 Orioles 2

See what happens when they let me do the game recaps? I start referencing rap lyrics in the title.

A battle of fifth starters turned into a pitcher's duel as J.A. Happ and Chris Tillman went head to head on a brisk Monday night in Baltimore. It looks like the Blue Jays have changed their swing at everything approach as they took five walks on the evening! An ugly ninth inning ended with Nick Markakis hitting a bases loaded walk off single to keep the Orioles dominance in close games going.

J.A. Happ had his swing and miss stuff working ending with 6 strikeouts in as many innings (he pitched into the seventh for some reason and was taken out after a walk). Happ also gave up four hits and two walks in the 105 pitch outing. He surrendered a run in the bottom of the sixth, but got out of a tough jam that could have been a lot worse.

In the bullpen, Steve Delabar came into the game in the seventh to take over for J.A. Happ. He got a quick double play and a strikeout to keep the game tied and close the book on Mr. Happ. In the eighth, Delabar pitched around a leadoff walk to get out of the inning with strikeouts against Adam Jones and Matt Weiters. Aaron Loup came in to pitch the ninth against the lefty Chris Davis hitting him on the first pitch. Loup proceeded to retire two straight right handed batters to further confuse his LOOGY status. After intentionally walking RHB Nolan Reimold, Loup gave up a routine grounder that Kawasaki short hopped to first base resulting in the bases being loaded. As mentioned earlier, Markakis then singled home the winning run. To make matters worse, Casey Janssen went unused in a high leverage situation although Loup did get beat by a lefty.

Chris Tillman was surprisingly effective against the Blue Jays going 6.2 innings giving up four hits and three walks resulting in one earned run in the seventh. He also had three strikeouts on the night.

Brett Lawrie played some great defense, saving a run in the sixth inning after a grounder redirected off J.A. Happ.

On offense, Adam Lind continued his hot streak with another walk(!) plus a single. Colby Rasmus grounded into two double plays, but made it for it with an RBI single in the 7th driving home Edwin Encarnacion to tie the game up at one. Other than that, the Blue Jays offense was flat, as has been the case much too often this season.

Jays of the Day are: Happ (.116 WPA) and Delabar (.255).

Suckage Jays are: Loup (-.358), Melky (-.162), Bautista (-.134), and Emilio (-.103). Bonifacio had a dreadful bunt and showed no signs of being a capable major league player once again.

Tomorrow R.A. Dickey (2-2, 4.30) will go up against Miguel Gonzalez (1-1, 4.00) at 7:00pm. Dickey will make his first start since leaving the game against the White Sox with neck and back tightness.

We had a lively GameThread and Tom will have the commenter leaderboard for the game up soon.