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Rangers complete sweep of struggling Blue Jays

May 7, 2007 - 12:05 AM ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- The Texas Rangers finally know what it feels like to sweep.

Michael Young homered in the eighth inning to snap a tie and lift the Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays, who completed a winless six-game road trip.

Kenny Lofton and Mark Teixeira also hit solo homers for the Rangers, who have won three consecutive games for the first time this season.

"Things fell together," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "We pitched, we hit, we caught the ball, we ran the bases and it's continuing. You always like it when you sweep, they needed that, but we earned it. The more we earn, the higher our confidence level gets, and we will begin to get more consistent.

"I just hope the guys keep having fun the way they have been the past couple of days."

After the Rangers squandered a 2-1 lead in the top of the eighth, Young provided the go-ahead hit off Toronto starter A.J. Burnett with his fourth homer of the season.

"Fastball, hard," Young said of the pitch he hit out. "He throws hard. He's easily one of the top two or three fastballs in the league. Burnett certainly had great stuff. He throws hard, has a great curveball, he pitched a great game. We were fortunate enough to have three great swings that went out of the park."

Young, who had two hits, has enjoyed batting against Blue Jays' pitching in his career with a .363 (77-for-212) batting average, eight home runs and 32 RBI in 52 games.

"It always seems like in a clutch situation, Michael Young is in the middle of it," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "It doesn't matter what his average is. He's one of the best clutch hitters in the game."

Young's blast made a winner out of Joaquin Benoit (1-1), who gave up a run and two hits in one inning. Akinori Otsuka worked a perfect inning for his fourth save.

Texas starter Kameron Loe allowed one run and three hits in 6 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out six, a career high.

It was a good rebound for Loe, who surrendered nine runs - seven earned - in Tuesday's 10-1 loss to the New York Yankees.

"I felt pretty good," Loe said. "I felt like I kept my pitch count down like I meant to do, and I controlled my breathing. My breathing got a little out of control in my last outing, so I just tried to stay calm and control that. My game is to keep the ball down and get ground balls but I had a lot more strikeouts today."

"Kam is a competitor and he went out there and fought," Washington said. "He got us to the point where we wanted to be, the eighth inning with the lead."

Though pinned with the loss, Burnett (2-3) also pitched effectively, allowing earned runs seven hits and one walk while striking out nine in 7 2/3 innings.

"I felt good the whole time out there," Burnett said. "The problem was three mistakes."

Toronto took the early lead when Troy Glaus hit a solo home run to center field in the second inning. Since returning from the disabled list on April 28, he is batting .367 (11-for-30) with two doubles, four home runs and nine RBI in eight games.

"Glaus always hits the Rangers," Gibbons said. "It doesn't matter what team he plays for. He hit the Rangers when he played for the Angels."

In 94 career games against the Rangers, Glaus is batting .291 (95-for-291) with 35 homers and 75 RBI.

Lofton knotted the game in the fifth when he drove the first pitch he saw from Burnett over the right field wall. It was the third home run of the season for the veteran outfielder.

Teixeira's fourth home run of the season an inning later gave the Rangers their first lead of the game.

"A pitcher like Burnett, you may only get one good pitch to see," Teixeira said. "I didn't get a good pitch until my third at-bat, then he hung one up over the plate and I got a good swing. A guy like him, if he gives you a good pitch, you've got to be on top of it."

After getting one out in the eighth, Benoit allowed a single to Matt Stairs. Aaron Hill grounded out, moving pinch runner Clayton to second.

Adam Lind delivered a single to right field to plate Clayton with the tying run and advanced to second base when the throw came home. Benoit got out of the inning by getting Vernon Wells to fly out to center field.

The Blue Jays are just 3-16 here since 2004.

"We just have to get out of this funk," said Toronto's Hill, who went 0-for-9 to close the series. "You just want to get something rolling. It was a tough trip, but it's over. We're going home now and that's good. We can't make a habit of going on the road and coming up empty."