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Rangers-Blue Jays Preview

May 15, 2010 - 10:27 PM By KATE HEDLIN STATS Writer

Texas (20-16) at Toronto (21-16), 1:07 p.m. EDT

The Toronto Blue Jays' offense continues to show no signs of slowing down. With Brandon Morrow taking the mound, it may actually need to produce more, however.

Morrow looks to rebound from the shortest start of his career as he takes the mound Sunday for Toronto, which hopes to complete a three-game sweep of the Texas Rangers.

The Blue Jays (22-16) had another big day at the plate with 10 hits in a 6-0 win over the Rangers (20-17) on Saturday after opening the series with a 16-10 victory on Friday.

After Toronto hit five home runs in the series opener, Jose Bautista added two more on Saturday, finishing 3 for 4 with five RBIs. The win was Toronto's fourth in five games against Texas this season and fourth straight between the two at Rogers Centre.

Bautista is hitting .438 in his last five games, and the Blue Jays have won 10 of their last 13, batting .266 and averaging 6.2 runs.

While that kind of support is usually enough for most starting pitchers, Toronto can't be too sure about what it will get from Morrow (2-3, 6.69 ERA). The right-hander, who has struggled with control issues in his first season with the Blue Jays, issued six walks and gave up six runs over 1 2-3 innings of a 7-6 loss to Boston on Monday.

"I was just a mess," said Morrow, who has walked 26 over 35 innings. "That's an embarrassing start to go out there and walk six in not even two innings."

Morrow, acquired from Seattle in the offseason, didn't fare much better in two starts and two relief appearances against the Rangers last season, going 1-3 with a 10.13 ERA. He gave up five home runs and walked seven over 10 2-3 innings.

The AL West-leading Rangers will try to take advantage of those struggles after losing for the third time in five games. After recording 11 hits Friday, they were held to five Saturday - the first time in six games they failed to finish with at least 10.

Texas struck out 12 times, including four by Josh Hamilton, who hit .318 over the previous four contests.

Frustration for the Rangers seemed to peak in the ninth when manager Ron Washington and Nelson Cruz argued with plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt after he called strike two on Cruz, who grounded out to third on the next pitch.

"I wasn't arguing balls and strikes, I was arguing (Wendelstedt) taking his mask off and getting in Cruz's face," an angry Washington said. "All of a sudden (Cruz) can't say anything? Now he wants to get antagonistic and pull his mask off. All off a sudden they're control freaks."

The Rangers' offense hopes to provide more support for Colby Lewis (3-1, 3.15), who takes the mound Sunday.

Lewis is winless in his last three outings despite a quality start in each. The Rangers have given him only three runs of support over 22 innings in that stretch.

Lewis gave up three runs and struck out five in seven innings of a 7-6, 13-inning loss on Tuesday.

The right-hander is 1-2 with a 12.08 ERA against the Blue Jays, but has not faced them since a relief appearance in 2007 when he gave up two runs in 3 2-3 innings. He's allowed six home runs to the Blue Jays over 12 2-3 innings.