Postgame Recap: Ricky Romero Lasts 1/3 Inning As Jays Lose To Rays 10-4

May 7, 2013; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Toronto Blue Jays right fielder Jose Bautista (19) hits a RBI double during the eighth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 6-4. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

This game started with so much hope. Edwin Encarnacion opened the scoring in the top half of the first with a two-run blast to center. You can’t ask for a much better start than that as a Jays fan. But then Ricky Romero had to pitch.

Romero pitched only 1/3 of an inning. No that is not a typo. He got the Jays one out. He allowed the first five men to reach base before finally getting his first out on a hard liner by Yunel Escobar. Another hit and John Gibbons had seen enough. This game was going to require 26 outs from the Jays’ bullpen. Ricky wasn’t getting another out if he threw 100 pitches. Triple-A call up Edgar Gonzalez was quickly brought into the game to try to stop the bleeding.

Gonzalez did an admirable job based on the mess of a situation to pitch into the 6th inning. Too bad he didn’t start tonight. The Jays remarkably finished the game using only four pitchers after Esmil Rogers and Brett Cecil took care of business following Gonzalez. The bullpen remains in decent shape but the Jays will need some strong innings out of R.A. Dickey tomorrow.

The Blue Jays did come up with a couple of nice plays on defense with Jose Bautista making a nice catch and throw to double up Luke Scott at first and Brett Lawrie showing off his crazy vertical leap as illustrated in the below GIF from GAMEREAX:

Well it’s official the Blue Jays aren’t sweeping this series at Tropicana. But with the Cy Young matchup on deck for tomorrow the Jays still have a chance to take 3 of 4 at this historic field of doom.

Catch full inning-by-inning updates on the game in the May 8th LIVE Game Thread.