Edwin Encarnacion drills a two-run shot over the fence and Jonathan Diaz plates the winning two runs with a walk-off single in the ninth.
The Blue Jays made us proud Wednesday with a thrill a minute, well, at least a thrill in each of two minutes in the first win of spring training in front of 4,270 sun drenched fans in Dunedin. This was the second day this week for a Florida sunburn for yours truly, but it was certainly worth it.
Encarnacion’s right field blast came off of Ray’s ace starter David Price in the second inning, scoring Juan Rivera who led off with a double. The third run of the inning came after JP Arencibia walked, advanced to second on a Price error and moved to third on a wild pitch. He scored on a ground out.
Another classic home crowd pleaser came in the ninth with the Jays down 4-3. Darin Mastroianni lead off with a single. Ryan Budde showed some real plate discipline and walked. Then young Jake Marisnick laid down a perfect sac bunt to move the runners to second and third. Diaz then drilled a 2-1 fast ball, lining it into left to score Mastroianni and Budde for the win.
All in all, a good day for the home team.
BTW, The Fan 590 has some good post-game audio from the locker room at http://blog.rogersbroadcasting.com/mikewilner/2011/03/02/the-first-win-comes-with-drama/. Included are spots from Aaron Hill, Jose Bautista, Brandon Morrow, and John Farrell who called Diaz a “Clone of Johnny Mac” and highlighted the great jobs turned in by Brett Lawrie and Casey Janssen. A spot from Diaz describing the walk-off hit is included as well.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20110302212428427