Toronto Blue Jays April 19, 2009 Blue Jays stay red-hot! Shutout A’s 1-0 Toronto – 4.19.09 by baseballhistorian.com Paced by a strong effort by rookie pitcher, Ricky Romero, the streaking Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Oakland A’s 1-0 before 22,164 cheering fans in Toronto. By virtue of the win the Blue Jays have the best record in the entire American League, 10 wins and 4 losses. The 24-year old, left-handed Ricky Romero used an arsenal of pitches, including an 88-92 mph fastballs and an up-and-down sinker to stymie Oakland batters. Ricky Romero (2-0 with a 1.71 ERA) tossed 7 innings, yielded just 4 hits, 2 walks and struck out 6. Relievers Scott Downs and B.J. Ryan (save) each pitched a scoreless inning. A fine pitching job by A’s starter Dallas Braden (1-2 with a 2.79 ERA) went for naught as Oakland failed to penetrate the runs column. The 25-year-old lefty surrendered just 5 hits, 3 walks, and 4 Ks, in 7.1 innings. Russ Springer was called in from the bullpen and pitched the final 2/3 of an inning, no-hits, 1 K. The Jays scored their only run in the second inning when first baseman Lyle Overbay singled in DH Kevin Millar who walked and advanced the bases. Oakland A’s right-fielder Jack Cust failed to safely reach base for the first time in 40 games, going back into the 2008 season. The Athletics fell to 5-7 for the young season. Umpires for Sunday’s Game in Toronto were Andy Fletcher at Home… Tim McClelland at 1B… Ted Barrett at 2B and Greg Gibson at 3B. ============================================================= For complete career stats of all baseball players, please see Players section on the upper left-side of our home page For loads of fun reading, type in Yankees, Cardinals, Pirates, Red Sox, Cubs or all other teams in our Search on the lower left-side of our home page |