Final
Lind, Rasmus power Blue Jays past Rangers
Jun 16, 2013 - 2:50 AM Arlington, TX (Sports Network) - Adam Lind and Colby Rasmus each slugged two- run homers to power the Toronto Blue Jays to a 6-1 victory over Texas, handing the slumping Rangers a season-high fifth consecutive loss.R.A. Dickey (6-8) helped the Blue Jays match a season best with their fourth straight win, which includes the first three tests of this four-game series. The veteran knuckleball specialist held Texas' struggling offense to one run while scattering seven hits and three walks over 5 2/3 innings.
"Early in the season, we struggled with the consistency of our starting rotation," said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. "We struggled in other areas too, but they're all starting to come together now. You can see it all starting to come together."
The Rangers have now mustered just six runs during their five-game skid, and went 1-for-13 with men in scoring position while stranding 11 baserunners on Saturday.
"It's just simple baseball," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "We need to get some base hits with runners in scoring position. We just haven't been able to do that. It's not one part of the lineup, it's up and down the lineup."
Leonys Martin went 3-for-4 and knocked in Texas' lone run, while Josh Lindblom (0-2) surrendered both Toronto homers in an otherwise solid six-inning stint to take the loss on his 26th birthday.
Lind and Jose Bautista each finished with two hits for the Blue Jays, with Rasmus scoring twice in the triumph.
The Blue Jays staked Dickey to a quick 2-0 lead when Bautista singled in the top of the first inning and Lind hammered a Lindblom curveball off the foul pole in right two batters later.
Lindblom proceeded to set down eight straight hitters after the blast until Lind ended the streak with a one-out base hit in the fourth. Rasmus followed with his 12th homer of the season to extend the margin to 4-0.
Texas' offense continued to sputter in the meantime, with Dickey cruising through the first three innings before getting into a bases-loaded situation with two out in the fourth. The reigning NL Cy Young winner averted damage, however, by striking out Chris McGuiness swinging.
The Rangers then put the first two men on in the fifth but again came up empty, before finally breaking through an inning later. Consecutive singles from Nelson Cruz, David Murphy and McGuiness filled the sacks with one out before Cruz came home on Martin's fielder's choice grounder to end Texas' string of 21 straight innings without scoring a run.
"I was able to make some bigger pitches with bases loaded and runners in scoring position to manage the outing enough to win," said Dickey.
Texas failed to seriously threaten thereafter, however, and Toronto tacked on two more runs in the ninth to put the game out of reach.
A walk to Rasmus in front of back-to-back singles by Maicer Izturis and Josh Thole brought in the first run, with Izturis crossing the plate on an error by Rangers' third baseman Adrian Beltre to make the score 6-1.
Game Notes
Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler (intercostal strain) was activated from the 15-day disabled list and played for the first time since May 17, but went 0- for-4 with a walk in his return ... Texas has now dropped five straight at home for the first time since Sept. 13-18, 2009 ... Toronto's Edwin Encarnacion ended 0-for-4 to have a 10-game hitting streak halted ... The Rangers have gone 3-for-27 with runners in scoring position during their current skid and had a 14th consecutive game with 10 hits or less, the club's longest stretch since going 15 straight to begin the 1988 season.
- TORONTO: 6
TEXAS: 1
Final
Jun 15 7:03 PM - Emilio Bonifacio safe at first on Adrian Beltre's fielding error scored Maicer Izturis with one out. On the play, Josh Thole advances to second. Runners on first and second and Munenori Kawasaki due up.
Blue Jays 6, Rangers 1 Top 9, 1 OutJun 15 6:53 PM - Josh Thole single to left scored Colby Rasmus with one out. On the play, Maicer Izturis advances to second. Runners on first and second and Emilio Bonifacio due up.
Blue Jays 5, Rangers 1 Top 9, 1 OutJun 15 6:46 PM - Leonys Martin grounded into a fielder's choice, second to short scored Nelson Cruz with two out. Chris McGuiness out at second. David Murphy advances to third. Runners on first and third and Ian Kinsler due up.
Blue Jays 4, Rangers 1 Bot 6, 2 OutsJun 15 5:50 PM - Colby Rasmus one-out, two-run Home Run (12) to right scored Adam Lind. Maicer Izturis due up.
Blue Jays 4, Rangers 0 Top 4, 1 OutJun 15 5:01 PM - Adam Lind two-out, two-run Home Run (7) to right scored Jose Bautista. Colby Rasmus due up.
Blue Jays 2, Rangers 0 Top 1, 2 OutsJun 15 4:16 PM - TORONTO: 0
TEXAS: 0
Top 1, 0 Outs
Jun 15 4:08 PM
Related News
- Tuesday Morning Texas Rangers Update Dec 26
- Merry Christmas Dec 25
- Happy Birthday Rickey Henderson Dec 25
- Christmas Morning Texas Rangers Update Dec 25
- Garver to the M’s, per reports Dec 24
- Hall of Fame Poll: David Wright Dec 24
- Christmas Eve Rangers things Dec 24
- Hall of Fame Poll: Billy Wagner Dec 23
- Off Topic: What is the worst Christmas song? Dec 23
- Saturday morning Rangers things Dec 23
- LSB Offseason Community Prospect Rankings — #15 Dec 22
- Friday morning Rangers stuff Dec 22