After a very successful home opening weekend in which the Toronto Blue Jays walked away with the series victory over the visiting Minnesota Twins the team got some bad news today. The team announced that slugger Jose Bautista would miss the three game series against the Oakland Athletics due to family concerns. Toronto would not give the media any more information on the matter except that the outfielder would make his return in Los Angeles when Toronto opens its series against the Angels on Friday.

Without Bautista manager John Farrell had to make some tweaks to his starting line-up against Oakland, moving Juan Rivera to right field while Jayson Nix manned third base as Edwin Encarnacion moved to the DH spot and thanks once again to the team’s all around depth Toronto managed to secure an exciting 7-6 win in ten innings.

The Jays had to bounce back from a disappointing Toronto debut from lefty Jo-Jo Reyes in order to secure the win. Reyes had a hard time locating his fastball, working up in the zone far too often throughout the contest. This led to a large hit total from the A’s which they turned into five runs through four innings. Reyes allowed nine hits and five earned runs in just three and a third innings of work.

Initially, Toronto was stifled by Oakland starter Brandon McCarthy, as the sinker pitch baffled Jays hitters once again. The Jays beat the ball into the ground on numerous occasions throughout the early part of the game. It was reminiscent of their performance against Twins starter Nick Blackburn on Sunday. McCarthy and Blackburn are carbon copies of one another on the mound and it showed against the Jays. Toronto managed one run off of the right-hander in the bottom of the fourth, albeit a hard one to earn.

The luck of the Blue Jays changed in the sixth inning when the team used their new speed style of play combined with sloppy defense from Oakland to put four runs on the board, tying the ball game. Rajai Davis and Yunel Escobar ignited the offense while Adam Lind, Aaron Hill, Encarnacion and Travis Snider drove in the runs for Toronto. Davis literally ran rampant on the base paths causing a game changing error from Kevin Kouzmanoff, distracting the third baseman on his way to third base. Davis then managed to score from third base when Kouzmanoff fell to the ground tracking down a ball in foul territory on the next at-bat.

McCarthy would get back on track for Oakland pitching eight innings, allowing five runs, two earned while allowing seven hits in an impressive debut performance for Oakland. The performance of McCarthy was a good sign for the right-hander who had not appeared in a Major League game since 2009. Toronto’s bullpen would even out the performance from McCarthy and make up for Reyes’ shaky start as Carlos Villanueva, David Purcey, Shawn Camp and Jon Rauch held the A’s scoreless over five and two thirds innings of work.

With the contest entering extra innings Oakland would score first as off-season acquisition Josh Willingham would hammer a Jason Frasor pitch into the left field stands for the go-ahead run. With Toronto down, the top of the team’s batting order was due up and once again it was Davis who would get the Jays off to a good start, hitting a single up the middle off of the newly inserted Grant Balfour. That would leave Escobar coming to the plate to match up against the right-hander. Balfour, a hard-throwing veteran who attacks the strike zone with fastball and slider combinations had his own power pitches work against him in the next at-bat. Balfour’s first pitch would be a fastball down the middle of the plate which Escobar tagged into the right field stands for a game-winning walk-off home run.

The Jays come from behind victory was another early season highlight for the team as they continue to impress.

The top of the order combination of Davis and Escobar have really shined for Toronto, albeit in a small two game sample size, while the team’s bullpen continues to pitch well and all-around the entire squad is contributing like a team should. The philosophy of Farrell is paying off so far, but the season is still early and the Jays have a lot of baseball in front of them.

The three game series between Toronto and Oakland will continue tomorrow night at the Rogers Centre with the game beginning at 7:07pm EST.

Right-hander Jesse Litsch will make his 2011 debut for Toronto against the A’s Dallas Braden, the man who has a perfect game on his resume from last season.