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Rangers try to put brakes on 5-game slide

Jun 26, 2015 - 12:06 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Texas Rangers try to put the brakes on a five-game losing streak on Friday when they open a three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

Texas was swept in a three-game set by the Oakland Athletics, culminating with a 6-3 loss on Thursday. Mitch Moreland homered among his three hits and added two RBI for the Rangers, who have dropped six of their last seven.

"We know that there are going to be stretches like this," Texas manager Jeff Bannister said. "How you react to them, bounce back from them and answer them is the most important thing."

Hoping to get them back on track Friday will be righty Nick Martinez, who has dropped three of his last four decisions. Martinez lost in Chicago on Saturday, as the White Sox reached him for three runs (2 earned) and six hits in six innings to fall to 5-3 to go along with a 2.77 ERA.

Toronto, meanwhile, took two of three from the AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays this week and moved within two games of first place Wednesday, as Marco Estrada's bid for the first perfect game in Blue Jays history ended on a bang- bang play in the eighth inning, but his team still came away with a 1-0 win in 12 innings

Chris Colabello's solo homer in the top of the 12th inning was the difference, as the Jays won for the fifth time in eight tries.

Estrada, who came within six outs of throwing a no-hitter against Baltimore on Friday, retired the first 22 Rays batters with little difficulty before Logan Forsythe beat out an infield single with one out in the bottom of the eighth.

"It was a little frustrating, just because it wasn't hit very hard," Estrada said of losing the perfect game in the eighth. "(Josh) Donaldson made a great play, and the guy could run a little bit, so he beat it out. It was fine, you know, the ninth inning I gave up a hard-hit ball, the base hit to [Kevin] Kiermaier, and it made it a little better. It was easier to forget about, but I'm just glad we pulled this game off."

Trying to match that effort on Friday will be veteran left-hander Mark Buehrle, who is 7-4 with a 3.90 ERA. Buehrle has not received a decision in his last three starts, but has not allowed more than two runs in his three starts since a shutout on June 3.

He gave up two runs in seven innings to Baltimore on Saturday and has surrendered five earned runs over his last 37 innings.

"Today was a good example of getting away with a lot of stuff," Buehrle said after Saturday's 5-3 loss. "I wasn't as sharp as I've been my last four or five outings. Just when I missed location, they'd either foul it off or didn't put the ball in play.

"Today was a lot of luck. Today could have been one of those games where I didn't last very long and gave up a lot of runs. I'm feeling good. I haven't changed up anything, I haven't changed anything in 15 years. I'm going out there and attacking guys, just the way I do."

Buehrle has faced the Rangers 24 times (21 starts) and is 13-5 against them with a 3.29 ERA.

Toronto was 4-2 versus the Rangers last season.