Toronto Blue Jays: Jose Bautista named AL Player Of The Month

I got some good news and some bad news about the Toronto Blue Jays.

Let’s start with the bad.

The Jays opened the four game series against the Kansas City Royals on a losing note.  In fact, they got creamed 11-3.  Starting pitcher, Ricky Romero had a terrible night on the mound, giving up 11 hits, eight earned runs, three walks and struck out only four batters in six innings pitched.

Now on to the good news.

Jose Bautista, A.L. Player Of The Month

Outfielder, Jose Bautista was named American League Player Of The Month for June.  He hit .271 with 30 RBIs and scored 24 runs.  He also hit 14 home runs last month.

The second game of the series on Tuesday night was a much better effort for the Blue Jays.

The Royals opened the scoring at the top of the third inning when Jason Bourgeois drove in Salvador Perez and Jeff Francoeur with a triple.

Alex Gordon made it 3-0 Royals when he drove in Bourgeois with a sacrifice fly.

It wasn’t until the bottom of the fourth inning that the Jays started to come back into the game.

First, Edwin Encarnacion drove in Brett Lawrie with an infield single.  Then, Rajai Davis drove in Colby Rasmus and Encarnacion to tie it 3-3.

Then Adam Lind came up and hit three run homer to make it 6-3.

“Probably wouldn’t be a surprise tomorrow (Wednesday) maybe he’ll (Lind) be up a little bit in the (batting) order,”  said Jay’s manager, John Farrell in Tuesday’s post game press conference.

Farrell also feels that the performance by Brett Cecil on the mound Tuesday night was a solid effort.  “He (Cecil) mixed and matched his stuff well,” he said.

Casey Janssen came in from the bullpen in the bottom of the ninth inning, shutting down the Royals one, two, three, and recorded his 10th save of the season.

The Jays opened the scoring in the second inning of Wednesday night’s game when Kelly Johnson drove in Rajai Davis with a sacrifice fly.

In the third inning, Yunel Escobar drove in Edwin Encaranacion with a sacrifice fly.  Davis made it 3-0 Jays, driving in Adam Lind with yet, another sacrifice fly.

“Tonight, I thought we did an excellent job of manufacturing runs,” said Jay’s manager, John Farrell in Wednesday’s post game press conference.

There was no scoring until the seventh inning when Kansas City scored their first and only run.  Jeff Francoeur drove in Mike Moustakas with a triple.

In the bottom of the inning, the Jays got the three run lead back when Escobar drove in Colby Rasmus with a single.

Casey Janssen came in at the top of the ninth and shut the Royals down one, two, three, and recorded his 11th save as the Jays went away with the 4-1 victory.

As for starting pitcher, Carlos Villanueva, well, he gave up only four hits, no earned runs, no walks, and struck out seven batters in six innings pitched.

“Carlos (Villanueva) did an outstanding  job,” said Farrell.

The Royals jumped out to a 5-0 in th fourth and final game in the third inning.

In the bottom of the inning, J.P. Arencibia hit a two run homer.

There was no scoring until the bottom of the seventh inning when Arencibia hit his second home run of the game to make it 5-3.

The Royals, however, scored three more runs in the eighth inning to make it 8-3.

In the bottom of the inning, Edwin Encarnacion scored on a single by Yunel Escobar.  Ben Francisco drove in Adam Lind and Escobar with a triple to make it 8-6.

The Royals put the final nail in the coffin in the ninth inning by scoring one more run and went away with the 9-6 victory.

Jay’s starting pitcher, Henderson Alvarez had a pretty rough night on the mound.  He gave up eight hits, five earned runs, two walks and struck out only four batters in 5.1 innings pitched.

The Blue Jays are in Chicago to face the White Sox this weekend.