Adam Lind, Colby Rasmus power Blue Jays, but fall short in 5-3 loss to Orioles

In a game where the Blue Jays got two big bats back into their lineup, they got off to an early lead and carried it into the seventh inning, but the Orioles came back with five unanswered to win game one of the series 5-3. The Blue Jays lost their fourth straight, disappointing the 20,024 fans in attendance tonight.

Adam Lind put the Blue Jays on the board against Orioles starter Jason Hammel, slamming his 20th homer of the season into the outfield seats, scoring Edwin Encarnacion from first. Lind joins Edwin Encarnacion (36), Jose Bautista (28), and J.P. Arencibia (20) in the 20-home run club. The Blue Jays join the Orioles, Rockies, and Nationals as the only major league teams with four 20-homer players. (Historical tidbit: the Blue Jays were the first major league club to hvae four batters with 20 or more home runs at the All-Star break, doing that in 2000). Next inning, Colby Rasmus, who hadn't played in a month, cranked a solo shot to right in the fifth inning to make it 3-0 Blue Jays. He is one away from being the fifth member of the 20-homer club.

But that was it for the offense.

Todd Redmond gave the club a great starting effort after not seeing game action for ten days. Redmond was given an early (in my eyes) hook by John Gibbons, having thrown just 75 pitches in the game. He looked great, striking out seven Orioles, walking none. When he left, he had a three-hit shutout, but he had just given up a leadoff double to Adam Jones. Dustin McGowan, who had been solid so far this season, was called on to face J.J. Hardy. Hardy doubled in Jones, ridding Redmond of his shutout.

A couple of batters later, catcher Steve Clevenger lined a McGowan offering to right, and this Sierror happened:

via the Toman brothers at Gamereax.com

Moises Sierra looked like he had a horrible read on the ball off the bat and then had trouble judging a bounce off the turf, leading to a couple of runs scoring on what was scored a double. Sierra probably could've caught it with a good read, but at the very least he should have kept it in front of him to prevent the tying run from scoring. The play tied up the game 3-3.

In the top of the eighth, the Orioles took the lead off Steve Delabar on Chris Davis's 50th home run and for 4-3 lead. Delabar almost struck him out on a failed check-swing appeal on what looked to be a borderline strike. Davis, in his previous at bat, struck a ball to the warning track against Todd Redmond. Davis's 50th homer ties him with Brady Anderson for the Orioles' franchise record--coincidentally, Anderson hit his 50th in the same park against Pat Hentgen. ESPN Stats & Info tweeted out that Chris David became just the third MLB player (after Babe Ruth and Albert Belle) to hit at least 50 homers and 40 doubles.

Danny Valencia singled in Adam Jones in that inning for an insurance run.

The plate appearance of the game award goes to Colby Rasmus, who singled in a wonderful eleven-pitch (all fastballs according to Gameday) at bat against T.J. McFarland in the bottom of the seventh. The TOOTBLAN of the game award goes to Jose Reyes. Reyes led off the first inning with a hard hit ball to the gap, good for a double, but he decided to go for three bases and was a dead duck at third. Yes, Adam Jones made a great throw from the right-centre field gap, but he had plenty of time to get set: Reyes hadn't even reached the second base dirt cutout when Jones had caught the ball off the wall.

Jim Johnson got the save, but gave up a couple of line drives--an Adam Lind single and a Brett Lawrie single right back to him, which got Lind doubled up easily. Rasmus struck out to end the game. The Blue Jays have lost four in a row and are now 67-80, with the Orioles improving to 78-69.

Jays of the Day! Todd Redmond (+.302 WPA), Adam Lind (+.259), Colby Rasmus (+.158).

Suckage Jays: Dustin McGowan (-.349, although Moises Sierra has a share of some of those negative WPA points), Steve Delabar (-.329), Moises Sierra (-.151), Jose Reyes (-.128), and J.P. Arencibia (-.114, two more strikeouts). Brett Lawrie (-.159) had the number for it but I can't give it to him because he was dinged with a -.175 WPA for the unlucky ninth inning double play.

Remember, first pitch for tomorrow's game is 4:07 pm, not 1:07. Esmil Rogers against Chris Tillman.