Jays Battle Cincinnati to 11-11 Tie
In one of the biggest games of the ever shortening season, the Jays squared off against Cincinnati on a clear and hot Saturday afternoon. Cincinnati was a full game behind the Jays at the start of the game, and the Jays were tied with Milwaukee and Colorado for 2d place. Lose this game, and the Jays could go from tied for second with a great shot at the playoffs to tied for 4th and relying on other teams to open up the Jays’ playoff chances. Although the Jays pitching staff did not have their best performance during the game, the team showed tremendous heart to battle back from multiple deficits to finally take the lead in the top of the 6th inning. Cincinnati was able to tie it in the bottom of the 6th, but great defensive work by the Jays kept the tie at 11 safe and sound.
As the visitors the Jays grabbed their sticks first and quickly plated 3 runs to take the lead – all of which the Jays scored with 2 outs, which would be a rather common occurrence foe them in the game. Robbie got things rolling by drawing a one-out walk. Brooks and Ryan drew two-out walks to lad the bases and then Bailey smacked a bases clearing double to plate the runs.
In the bottom of the first, however, Cincinnati was able to push across 5 of their own to take the lead. They did all that damage without a single hit as the Jays pitching staff had some control issues to work out.
Down 5-3 after 1, the Jays were able to score 3 in the top of the 2d to take a 6-5 lead. Tommy lead off with a walk and Oliver followed with the innings’ only hit to put runners on first and second. Zach then drew a walk to load the bases and Daniel forced in the inning’s first run by drawing another walk. Grant and Jack closed out the scoring by hitting fielder’s choice grounders that scored the runners from third.
In the bottom of the second, however, the Jays gave the lead right back, thanks again to control issues on the mound. This time, however, Cincinnati scored only 3 to take an 8-6 lead thanks to a couple of hits on their part.
The Jays got one of those runs back in the top of the 3rd thanks to a lead off single by Colin. Although he was forced out at second on Brooks fielder’s choice grounder, Ryan laced a blast to right field that scored Brooks from first. The Jays put Cincinnati down in order in the bottom of the third, and after three complete innings, the score was 8-7 for Cincinnati.
The teams traded scoreless innings in the 4th (which is ironic since that was a coach pitch inning – 14 of the game’s first 15 runs had been scored in kid-pitch, mostly because of walks). The Jays went down in order in the top of the 5th, and Cincinnati was able to score 2 in the bottom (16 of the games 17 runs had now been scored in kid-pitch). In the top of the 6th, however, they Jays got themselves another 2 out rally to score 3 and take a 11-10 lead. Jack started the rally with a big double, and back-to-back singles by Robbie and Colin had scored a run and left 2 runs on base. Brooks then jacked a 3 run homer to center field to give the Jays their third lead of the game.
Although Cincinnati lead off the bottom of the 6th with a game-tying homer, the Jays defense stiffened, and plays by Olin and short, Mary on the bump and Bailey at first kept Cincinnati from scoring the game winner. I am very proud of how hard you played all game, Jays. You never quit and kept coming back. Every time Cincinnati would take the lead, you would come right back. You all showed tremendous heart today. There will be games when out pitching staff just does not have it. Those are the games when our defense and offense have to pick up the slack, and that is exactly what you did today. Great work. We still own our playoff destiny.
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