That’s just Jose being Jose and Kevin Gregg being his usual idiot self. Bautista hit two more homers tonight against Baltimore — a solo shot in the first and a two-run bomb in the sixth — and Gregg went to work with his usual ninth inning act, coughing up a run and leaving two runners in scoring position before my guy Jesse Carlson closed out a 6-4 win.
Bautista’s homers gave the Jays leads of 1-0 and 5-1, and a Vernon Wells two-run shot (his 30th) mixed in was enough support for starter Brett Cecil, who pitched into the seventh before leaving with a 5-2 lead. Cecil gave up 11 hits over six-and-a-third but limited the damage to win and improve to 14-7.
Gregg’s ninth was as interesting as any other he’s had this year — after a leadoff strikeout, he walked Luke Scott and gave up a single to Nolan Reimold, and after fanning Felix Pie, coughed up an RBI double to Corey Patterson to cut it to two and put a pair in scoring position. After starting pinch hitter and prospect extraordinaire Matt Wieters with two balls, Cito mercifully lifted the big dog, calling on Carlson to slam the door. After running the count full, he got Wieters to fly to left to end it.
I didn’t catch Gregg’s reaction on his way out, but I have to imagine he’s pretty, pretty unimpressed. Does a guy with 35 saves deserve to get the hook mid-count in a game he hasn’t quite blown yet? In most cases, no. He’s special though, so I’m siding with the bad manager this time around.
The win gives Toronto 13 in 16 games against the Orioles this year, including seven in seven at Rogers Centre. Ricky Romero (13-9, 3.75) looks to keep it rolling tomorrow afternoon against Jeremy Guthrie (10-14, 3.92).
[…] choking act (an overdue one, at that, since he’d been strong in three appearances since nearly blowing last Friday’s game) cost Shaun Marcum, who gave up three runs on just five hits over seven innings, a shot at his 14th […]
By: The jerk store called, they’re running out of Kevin Gregg « That's what I'm saying, guy… on October 3, 2010
at 4:50 pm