The Blue Jays hit four homers for the second straight game, led by Vernon Wells (above, center) who had a couple of solo shots of his own. Toronto leads the Majors with 211 home runs this season, 30 more than the next best team. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darren Calabrese)The Toronto Blue Jays (72-66) continue to put on a hitting clinic against these Texas Rangers (75-63) during this series. Toronto has feasted on Texas starting pitching and next up on the platter was spot-starter Scott Feldman.
Feldman (L, 6-10), the ace of the Rangers' rotation to begin the season, couldn't make it out of the fifth inning. The right-hander, who has been used primarily in the Rangers' bullpen during the second half of the season, got the spot start and allowed four runs on seven hits in only 4 2-3 innings pitched.
"[Toronto is] playing pretty good right now and they're really making us pay for the mistakes we're making," Feldman said.
Long balls were the Rangers downfall once again and Blue Jays' outfielder Vernon Wells, who lives near Arlington during the offseason, led the charge. Wells had two solo homers, Jays' catcher John Buck added another, and outfielder Adam Lind added a two-run shot in the seventh for the best home-run hitting team in the Majors.
"It seems like every time we get a ball up in the zone against these guy's, they don't miss it," Rangers manager Ron Washington said.
Offensively, the Rangers couldn't solve the riddle of Jays' starter Shaun Marcom (W, 12-7) and his deceptive off-speed repertoire. Toronto's ace gave his team seven quality innings, striking out eight while allowing three runs on six hits.
Look no further than the Rangers first and second hitters in the lineup as the culprit for this team's offensive woes on this night. Every other Rangers' starter had a hit besides Ian Kinsler and Michael Young, who combined to go 0 for 10 from the plate and 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position for the game.
Vladimir Guerrero and Andres Blanco (filling in for the injured Elvis Andrus at shortstop) led the Rangers scoring attack. The duo combined to go 3 for 8 from the plate, knocking in all five Ranger runs. Blanco knocked in two runs with a one-out single in the ninth, but it was too-little, too-late as the deficit was just too much to climb for these Rangers.
"We waited until the end of the game to battle," Washington said, "but the home runs that we gave up came back to haunt us."
Texas continues it's slide but, luckily for the Rangers, the Seattle Mariners took care of business in Oakland as the A's lost 7-5 Tuesday night. The American League West division league stands at seven, but the Rangers need to turn it around in a hurry (especially with the N.Y. Yankees coming to town Friday night), before this thing gets out of hand.
News and Notes:
- Cliff Lee hopes to make his next scheduled start over the weekend, after missing his last two starts due to soreness in his lower back. Elvis Andrus (hamstring) also looks to come back this weekend in Texas, as the turf in Toronto would not be conducive to the health of a strained hammy. Josh Hamilton (knee) is still listed as day-to-day.
(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)
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