Rangers Lose To Jays
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TORONTO — Marcus Stroman gave the struggling Toronto Blue Jays what they needed Saturday.
The right-hander pitched seven shutout innings and first baseman Dan Johnson drove in two runs as the Blue Jays defeated the Texas Rangers 4-1 to snap a three-game losing streak.
“He’s a great competitor with a great arm,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said about his rookie. “He pitches to win. He’s not worried about anything else but winning the game.”
And the Blue Jays (50-48) needed the win. It was only their third in their past 12 games. The Rangers (39-58) are also needy. They won the opener of the three-game series on Friday and are 2-13 in July.
“It was not an easy game by any means,” Gibbons said. “We desperately needed that today. Hopefully, we can build on that a little bit.”
Stroman (5-2) retired his final 12 batters after allowing two singles to start the fourth inning.
He allowed four hits and struck out five in winning for the first time since June 23. He did not factor in the decision in his three starts before Saturday.
Left-hander Aaron Loup pitched the ninth for his third save of the season. Regular closer
Casey Janssen was ill and not available but said he hopes to be ready for Sunday’s rubber match.
Rangers right-hander Colby Lewis (6-7) allowed eight hits and two runs while striking out five in five innings.
“When he left the ballgame after the fifth inning, we were still in it, and that’s his job,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “We certainly would have liked him to go deeper and he would have liked to go deeper, but the pitch count (106) got up there pretty quick.”
Lewis said, “I felt like my stuff was great. I was able to locate, especially a lot of the off-speed stuff. The changeup was really good today.”
It was a scoreless game in the fourth inning when right fielder Daniel Robertson and third baseman Adrian Beltre singled for the Rangers. Stroman struck out the next two batters and ended the threat on a fielder’s choice ground ball.
“That was a pretty important part of the game,” Stroman said. “I felt I was just able to bear down and really got outs when I needed to get them. It was first and second and no outs out and I knew I needed either a big a double play ball or a couple of big strikeouts. I was lucky to get the strikeouts. That definitely pumped me up going into the next inning. That was huge and definitely a momentum shift.”
Gibbons said, “He has a way of dialing it up at crunch time.”
The Blue Jays rewarded Stroman by taking a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning on an RBI double by Johnson and an RBI infield single by second baseman Munenori Kawasaki, who extended his hit streak to seven games.
Center fielder Colby Rasmus started the inning with a single and took third on a wild pitch and scored on Johnson’s hit. Right fielder Anthony Gose bunted for a single with one out and Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus could only knock down Kawasaki’s two-out grounder up the middle that scored Johnson.
The Blue Jays increased their lead in the seventh inning against left-hander Ryan Feierabend. Left fielder Melky Cabrera, designated hitter Jose Bautista and catcher Dioner Navarro singled with none out to produce one run. Rasmus forced Navarro at second on a grounder to first and Johnson hit a sacrifice fly to right to make the score 4-0.
The Rangers scored in the eighth inning against the Blue Jays’ bullpen. Left-hander Brett Cecil allowed a leadoff walk to second baseman Rougned Odor and a single to catcher Robinson Chirinos. Cecil struck out designated hitter Shin-Soo Choo before Dustin McGowan took over and allowed an RBI single to Andrus. The right-hander struck out Robertson. He also struck out Beltre, but Navarro’s passed ball allowed Beltre to reach first and load the bases. Left fielder Jake Smolinski struck out to end the inning.
“I thought we battled today,” Gibbons said. :It was a tough ballgame. It got a little hairy there at the end.”
Robertson was in the game because Rangers right fielder Alex Rios sprained his right ankle on a foul ball on the first pitch he saw in the first inning and left the game.
“His cleats got caught in the clay,” Washington said. “When he twisted his back side, it got caught and he rolled his ankle. It’s not bad, but I’m going to keep him off that turf (Sunday). Hopefully, he’ll be ready to go when we get to New York (Monday).”
X-rays were negative. Robertson singled for him as a pinch hitter and went 2-for-4.
