Toronto Blue Jays avoid the sweep

The Toronto Blue Jays opened their series with the Chicago White Sox on a losing note.

Adam Lind opened the scoring at the top of second inning in Friday’s night game with a solo home run.

There was no scoring until the bottom of the fifth inning when the White Sox scored three runs to take a 3-1 lead.  First, Alexei Ramirez drove in Dayan Viciedo with a single.  Gordon Beckham drove in Ramirez with a single and then Kevin Youkilis drove in Beckham with a single.

A.J. Pierzynski added to the White Sox lead by hitting a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth inning.

The Jays added one more run in the ninth inning when Yunel Escobar drove in Edwin Encarnacion with a sacrifice fly, but that would be the only scoring they would do as they would lose by a score of 4-2.

Jay’s starting pitcher, Aaron Laffey had a sub-par outing on the mound.  He gave up eight hits, three earned runs, one walk, and struck out four batters in six innings pitched.

Saturday’s game was a low scoring affair.  In fact, the only scoring in the game came in the bottom of the fifth inning when Kevin Youkilis hit a two run homer.

Jay’s starting pitcher, Ricky Romero gave up only four hits, two earned runs, three walks and struck out two batters in six innings pitched.

Sunday’s game was a real slugfest.

Colby Ramus

Colby Rasmus opened the scoring for the Jays in the first inning when he hit a two run homer.  Edwin Encarnacion made it 4-0 when he hit a two run homer.  It was his 23rd home run of the season.

The White Sox came within one run in the bottom of the inning when former Blue Jay, Alex Rios hit a three run homer.

At the top of the second inning, Rasmus drove in Omar Vizquel with a ground rule double.

At the top of the third inning, Kelly Johnson increased the Jay’s lead by hitting a two run homer.

Jay’s catcher, Jeff Mathis made it 8-3 at the top of the fourth inning with a solo home run.

At this point of the game, it looked as if it was going to be smooth sailing for the Jays.  Not quite.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Adam Dunn drove in Alejandro De Aza to make 8-4.  Rios drove in Dunn with a double.  Then Alexei Ramirez drove in Paul Konerko and Rios with a triple to make it 8-7.

The Jays didn’t give up, though, as they increased their lead at the top of the sixth inning.  First, Rajai Davis scored on a wild pitch to make it 9-7.   Jose Bautista drove in Rasmus with a double to make it 10-7.  Adam Lind added to the lead by driving in Baustista with a double.

The White Sox scored one run in the sixth inning and one in the seventh inning.  However, the Blue Jays managed to hold on to win 11-9 and Casey Janssen recorded his 12th save of the season.

Colby Rasmus went two for four at the plate with one home run, scoring two runs, and collecting three RBIs.

Jays starting pitcher, Brett Cecil gave up six hits, six earned runs, three walks, and struck out five batters in 4.1 innings pitched.

The Blue Jays are off until  next Friday (July 13th) due to the All-Star break.  They will kick off a three game series against  the Cleveland Indians.