The man wearing Russ Adams' old number eight came through at the plate and behind it by helping the man wearing Justin Speier's former digits to a 3-0 win in Baltimore Saturday night.
Jose Molina drove in the first two runs of the ball game by taking one for the team with the bases loaded in the fourth inning before singling home another run in the sixth. The HBP came after Travis Snider was intentionally walked by Orioles starter David Hernandez to load up the bases. He also threw out former Jay Cesar Izturis trying to steal second in the third. Molina guided Dana Eveland through 7 1/3 innings of shutout ball before Scott Downs mopped up in the eighth. The veteran lefty got a double play ball from Adam Jones that was turned nicely by shortstop Alex Gonzalez after getting an awkward feed from Downs to complete the 1-6-3 twin killing.
Jason Frasor allowed a couple of base runners in the ninth but he locked it down for his third save of the season. Frasor has yet to pitch a clean inning this season and one thing that's not helping is his first-batter efficiency as he is 0-for-4 in that department (Michael Young double, Chris Davis double, Nelson Cruz walk, Nick Markakis walk). Frasor had an extra run to work with in the ninth thanks to an RBI double by Adam Lind to cash home a Mike McCoy walk. McCoy was playing second base again for the ailing Aaron Hill who remains out with a hamstring injury.
Dana Eveland put together a nice Blue Jay debut by utilizing his changeup to great effect. He got a ground ball double play to erase a Julio Lugo leadoff single in the first and stranded two runners in the second thanks to two factors - Vernon Wells cutting off a ball in the gap on a double by Nolan Reimold and an opposing catcher on the basepaths in Matt Wieters as he was unable to score all the way from first with two outs. Anyone else, save for Boog Powell perhaps, and it's a 1-0 lead for the O's.
Eveland also stranded two more runners in the fourth by whiffing Reimold to end the frame. However, he settled in from that point on as he set down 10 of 11 hitters before giving up a one-out single to Julio Lugo, who was the only man to reach in the fifth inning on a two-out walk. In all, Eveland allowed just eight base runners on five hits, two walks and a hit batsman while getting an impressive dozen outs on the ground.
The Jays had five doubles in this one with Lind and Gonzalez getting two each and Molina adding the other. Despite going 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and leaving 11 runners on base, all three runs were scored with two outs. Toronto also picked up its second win in two tries at Camden Yards - that's one more win than all of last year when the Jays were 1-8.
Today, the Jays wrap up their series against Craig Tatum and the Orioles at 1:35 p.m. Shaun Marcum will face Kevin Millwood.
In other Jays related news.....
Jordan Bastian of bluejays.com has the latest on Aaron Hill, Travis Snider and the catching platoon in one neat and tidy package.
Random thoughts......
Around the majors.....
And finally........
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20100411072106247