In hindsight, I was obviously a bit too hasty last night in declaring that Scott Downs had shaken off his recent woes. Because after one solid outing Monday, in which he retired the side in the 8th inning of a blow out ball game, Downs reverted back to the reliever that has struggled mightily in the past week, but not without a high degree of drama.Downs nearly made a phenomenal turnaround in the 9th inning after a messy beginning to a 3-3 ball game. He allowed a base hit to open the frame, then issued a walk. Downs mishandled a sacrifice bunt, allowing the bases to be juiced with nobody out. Undeterred, the Jays closer retired the next two batters, setting the stage with Ichiro Suzuki. He had Ichiro right where he wanted him with two strikes, however he couldn't escape the large jam he'd created when the American League leader in hits poked the game winning RBI single to centre.
Downs (1-3) takes his 3rd loss in his past five appearances to go along with his two blown saves in that span.
Yikes.
