Vernon Wells and Aaron Hill celebrate after Wells' hit a three-run home run in the third inning. Wells, a native of the DFW area, has owned the Rangers this year. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press,Darren Calabrese)It's hard to know what to expect from these Texas Rangers (20-16) on a game-by-game basis.
Just yesterday, starter C.J. Wilson and the rest of the Rangers staff held the Oakland Athletics to one run on seven hits in 12 innings. Friday night was a different story as Texas allowed the Toronto Blue Jays (21-16) to score 16 runs on 15 hits as the Rangers blew a big early lead. The 2-5 hitters in the Blue Jays lineup hit a combined four home runs and knocked in 12 runs, and that was by the end of the fourth inning.
"They can swing it up and down that lineup," Manager Ron Washington said. "They showed that tonight."
The Rangers jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the third inning, but it wouldn't last long as the Blue Jays came right back in the bottom of the inning - scoring eight runs and taking an 11-9 lead. Texas starter Rich Harden lasted only 2 2-3 innings, walking six batters and giving up seven earned runs on four hits. It was easily his worst start in a Rangers' uniform, and he characterized the performance as "embarrassing" after the game.
"It was ugly," Harden said. "I just couldn't make my pitches. I was missing up and missing a lot. It's not good."
Reliever Doug Mathis took over for Harden and, just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, gave up eight earned runs on seven hits in only 1 1-3 innings. Dustin Nippert and Chris Ray combined to allow only one more run for the final four innings, but it was too little, too late as the gusting winds that shot baseballs out of the park early in the game had died down and Texas didn't score another run after the fourth.
The Rangers were able to knock Blue Jays' starter Brett Cecil out of the game early, tagging him for eight runs and eight hits and knocking him out after only two innings pitched. But, from the fifth inning on, Toronto reliever Casey Janssen held Texas to only one hit in his three innings pitched - the longest appearance of his career. Janssen struck out three during this time and provided the pitching Toronto needed to pull out the win.
"Those innings they got out of Janssen was the turning point," Washington said.
A wild night and awful performance up and down the Rangers' pitching staff. The good news is, Texas gets a chance to redeem themselves tomorrow.
Game two of the three-game set is Saturday, with a 12:07 p.m. start time. Scott Feldman (1-3, 5.84 ERA) starts for Texas while Ricky Romero (3-1, 3.42) makes the start for the Blue Jays.
News and Notes:
- Toronto leads the the major leagues in home runs (57) and extra-base hits (162).
- In his first game back since returned from a 15-day stint on the disabled list, Nelson Cruz went 1 for 4 and knocked in four RBI, tying his season-high in runs batted in. 1B Ryan Garko was optioned to Triple-A to make room for Cruz on the roster.
- Vladimir Guerrero went 3 for 4 went two runs and three RBI and Max Ramirez went 2 for 3 with a solo home run and two RBI.
- Texas fell to 7-9 on the road this season.
(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)
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