Blue Jays crush Orioles, Mark Buehrle picks up his 200th win

Blue Jays 12 Orioles 5

Now that was a fun game. We scored 4 in the first, 1 more in the 3rd, 5 more in the 4th, another in the 6th and more in the 9th. The game was never in doubt.

Mark Buehrle wasn't great, then he didn't have to be. He got the big lead and started just throwing strikes and then let his defense do the heavy lifting. He went 6 innings, allowed 8 hits, 2 earned, 2 walks with 1 strikeout. He gave up a number of hard hit balls, but most found gloves.

He got his 200th win, which is pretty amazing. If he plays a couple more years, and gets to say 240 wins, you almost have to put him in the Hall of Fame, right?

The defense was great. Kevin Pillar made at couple of very good catches in left, one while running full speed into the wall in left and, earlier in the game, he throw out Adam Jones trying to, as Wilner said 'stretch a double into a double'. Great throw, plus a great tag by Devon Travis. Dalton Pompey made a terrific catch on a ball hit directly over his head. We turned 3 double plays, Travis making very nice turns on each of the three. In the 8th, he stayed in so well on the turn that he got spiked, but he seemed ok after.

Liam Henriks pitched a scoreless inning. Colt Hynes gave up 2 runs in his first regular season Jays appearance, but after a great spring I'll let him get away with it. Marco Estrado gave up a solo homer in the 9th, but then, up by a bunch, throw strikes. He did get helped by a couple of nice catches behind him.

The Orioles had 13 hits and 2 home runs, and yet lost big.

On offense..almost everyone hit. Edwin Encarnacion had our lone 0 for, but he drove in a run. We had 16 hits, but no home runs. Pretty good to score 12 without a home run.

Our hitters:

• Jose Reyes: 3 for 4, with a double. He looked like he hurt himself, like maybe pulled a muscle in his side, but he played the entire game and looked good out there. I'd have pulled him, but we don't have a bench.
• Dalton Pompey: 2 for 6, 2 doubles.
• Jose Bautista: 3 for 3, walk, double. He left the game early, apparently with a cramp in a calf, but this is the type of game where he should be pulled early,
• Josh Donaldson: 2 for 3, walk, double. 3 RBI.
• Dioner Navarro: 1 for 4, double, 3 RBI. He dropped an easy popup.
• Justin Smoak: 2 for 4, walk. Made a couple of nice plays at first, in the first inning.
• Kevin Pillar: 1 for 5, double.
• Devon Travis: 2 for 4, double. He is becoming my favorite Blue Jay.

Jays of the Day: Pompey (.148 WPA), Bautista (.135) and Navarro (.124) (though maybe he should lose points for the dropped popup, but I'm in a good mood after that game). I'm giving an honorable mention to Travis and Pillar for their great defense and one to Buehrle for getting his 200th win. No Suckage Jays.

The Orioles deserved that loss for using Loser by Beck as the music played while introducing the Jays before the game. That's really childish.

Tomorrow we have a rare Saturday evening game. 7:00 Eastern start. Aaron Sanchez goes up against Ubaldo Jimenez.