Jays score early, often in the 11-7 win over Rangers
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Danny Jansen hit a homer and hit a career-high with four, Santiago Espinal tied his career-highs with three hits and three RBIs, and Raimel Tapia hit a three-run homer as Toronto’s bottom team led an early attack in one 11-7 win over the Texas Rangers on Saturday night.
“Janno, Tap, Spee, those guys — I think they’ve done that pretty consistently throughout the year in that part of the lineup,” said Blue Jays interim manager John Schneider. “If you do that with the highest order (also hitting) … it’s a pretty good mix.”
All 11 Blue Jays runs came in the first four innings, helping Kevin Gausman to his fourth straight win. The Blue Jays are the best 18 games of the season over .500, drawing within a half game against AL wildcard leaders Tampa Bay.
Gausman (12-9) allowed five runs on two homers — a three-run shot by Adolis Garcia in the first inning and a two-run homer by Sam Huff in the sixth. He went 5 1/3 innings and hit out nine, which is one short of his season high.
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Bo Bichette, who had five home runs in his previous four games, hit three doubles, all on opposing court. This month, Bichette is hitting .525 with a major-best 21 hits, six home runs and 18 RBI, and is shooting safely in eight of nine games.
“We know he’s good, and this is the best version of Bo we’ve seen,” Schneider said.
Bichette said he felt “I’m making adjustments better … I’m confident.”
The Jays hit twice in the first three innings at Kohei Arihara (1-3), who also gave up a two-run homer on Jansen in the fourth. Tim Mayza made his first save of the season.
Garcia’s home run, which broke an 0-for-11 streak, had an exit speed of 183 km/h, which matched his career. He returned to the lineup for the first time since Tuesday and, still plagued by a sore gluteus maximus, was the designated attacker rather than playing outfield.
Arihara, who played six seasons in Japan before moving to Texas last year, facilitated a major league high of 11 runs for 12 hits and five walks.
Rangers interim manager Tony Beasley said he stayed at Arihara longer than he wanted against the club, which leads the majors at .261, because Texas will play five games over the next four days.
“He’s been playing in hitter-friendly counts most of his night,” Beasley said, “and that’s a tough team to do that with.”
Rangers have lost 12 of their last 13 games and are down to a season low with 20 games under .500.
THE LAST BIG WIN
When Gausman won in Boston on July 11, he left the team after pitching five innings and allowing three runs. That’s because the Jays took an 11th place finish in fifth, extending their lead to 25-3. They won 28-3 in a game where Tapia and Jansen each had six RBIs.
SHORT HOPS
The Blue Jays have won 14 of their last 16 away games. … Rangers 2B Marcus Semien had two singles to extend his on-base streak to 21 games, the longest active streak in the majors. … Toronto OF Teoscar Hernandez (paternity list) was due to return to the team on Saturday night or Sunday and then spend a day on the suspended list.
TRAINING ROOM
Rangers: RHP Jon Gray (left slanting trunk) could make his first start since Aug. 1 during Monday’s doubleheader in Miami.
NEXT
Rangers LHP Martin Perez (10-6, 2.82 ERA) will start Sunday’s series finale. He was sixth in the AL in ERA before Saturday and has lost his last two starts, including last Monday’s 0-1 in Houston. Jay’s RHP Trevor Richards (3-1, 4.72) will serve as the opener of a bullpen game for the second time in nine days.
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© 2022 The Canadian Press
https://globalnews.ca/news/9120688/blue-jays-score-early-and-often-in-11-7-victory-over-rangers/ Jays score early, often in the 11-7 win over Rangers
