Bob Uecker would have had fun calling this one last night. Lyle Overbay, Travis Snider, Aaron Hill, Adam Lind and Vernon Wells each hit the long ball as the Jays erased a 9-3 deficit to beat the Texas Rangers 16-10 at the Rogers Centre Friday night. It was the kind of game the ladies would enjoy!
I had watched the first period of the Boston Bruins-Philadelphia Flyers game where the Bruins set the stage for choking on a 3-0 lead in Game 7. Finally realizing that the Jays game was on the Sportsnet Alternate channel and finally finding it on Channel 385, I tuned in to see the good guys trailing 8-3 and Josh Roenicke on the mound. It was evident that Brett Cecil had a less than great night on the hill. The young lefty was rocked for eight runs on eight hits and two walks in two innings. He gave up three runs in the first but the offence was able to match that in the bottom of the first. However, a home run by Max "Being Max" Ramirez was part of a five run second inning that led to Cecil's departure. Roenicke came in and didn't exactly have his best outing ever. He lasted 1 1/3 innings where he gave up two runs on one hit, four walks and a hit batsman. Casey Janssen came in and came up big with three shutout innings. He allowed just one inherited runner out of three to score. Lefty Rommie Lewis could not find the strike zone in relief of Janssen and wound up walking a pair of load up the bases in the seventh. However, Jason Frasor came in to save the day by stranding all three Rangers on the bases. He allowed a hit and struck out in 1 2/3 innings of work. Shawn Camp pitched a squeaky-clean ninth with a strikeout included.
The big story was the mighty lumber wielded by the Blue Jay blue. Travis Snider keyed the comeback by rattling Rich Harden with a three-run homer in an epic 11 pitch at-bat. Snider was replaced by Mike McCoy in right field late in the game and he was the only Jays batter not to record to a hit. If McCoy should've come in for anyone, why not Aaron Hill? Even though Hill hit a three-run dinger, he has been battling a sore hamstring and he could have used a small break. However, the most encouraging sign of the night was Lyle Overbay as he went 3-for-3 with two walks and he kicked-started the comeback with a solo homer in the third as part of that eight-run uprising.
Roenicke earned his first major league win as a result but I thought it should have gone to Janssen, who helped restore some order in this slugfest. Doug Mathis gave up 8 runs in relief of Harden, who gave up seven, and he got the loss as a result.
If there was ever a time for Ricky Romero to pitch a complete game, today would be it. The lefty will face Scott Feldman in a 1:07 start at the Dome.
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