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Inglett's sac fly lifts Blue Jays to rare sweep at Rangers

Apr 14, 2008 - 12:18 AM ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- B.J. Ryan's first save in over a year put the finishing touches on a rare sweep for the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday.

Ryan allowed a leadoff triple but recovered to preserve Joe Inglett's go-ahead sacrifice fly in the top of the 10th inning as the Blue Jays posted a 5-4 victory over the Texas Rangers.

Rod Barajas had a pair of hits and two RBI for the Blue Jays, who had not swept the Rangers in Texas since 1985.

With the contest tied at 4-4, Frank Thomas and Lyle Overbay led off the 10th inning with walks and advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Gregg Zaun. Inglett followed with a line drive to right off Texas reliever Dustin Nippert (0-1), easily scoring pinch runner Marco Scutaro from third base.

"They had been pounding me inside all day, so I was looking for something in again," Inglett said. "They started me off with a curveball and then threw the fastball. I got a good swing on it and just wanted to get it out of the infield."

Ryan, who underwent "Tommy John" surgery last year, surrendered a leadoff triple to Marlon Byrd, but retired the next three batters to earn the save in his season debut. It was his first appearance since April 14, 2007 and his first save since April 11 of last year.

"It's good to get this one under my belt," Ryan said. "It wasn't a pretty thing but it was a good outcome. I had one bad pitch, not terrible, but he (Byrd) got it in the gap. I just tried to stay in the moment and I knew I had a lefty (David Murphy) coming up next and just wanted to make sure I kept Byrd at third."

The runner was the 10th left on base for Texas for the game.

"It was a frustrating day," Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler said. "He (Byrd) had a great at-bat against Ryan. It was a huge hit. We battled but we just couldn't get him in."

Tied at 1-1 in the top of the fourth, the Blue Jays took the lead when Inglett singled in Thomas, but Josh Hamilton answered for the Rangers with a solo blast to right in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game.

Texas took a 3-2 lead in the fifth inning when Kinsler delivered a two-out, run-scoring single up the middle off Toronto starter A.J. Burnett but the Blue Jays came right back as Barajas drove in Vernon Wells with a single in the sixth.

Barajas left the game immediately after the sixth inning with a strained left groin and will be re-evaluated tomorrow as the Blue Jays begin a two-game series in Baltimore.

"It was frustrating," Barajas said. "I felt good at the plate today and you really want to be in there for these type of games. I got some good pitches to hit and was able to help the team offensively and drive in some runs."

Frank Catalanotto gave the Rangers a lead with an RBI double in the bottom of the sixth but the Blue Jays tied the game again at 4-4 in the seventh on a sacrifice fly from Alex Rios.

Texas had a chance to take the lead when it loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, but Scott Downs struck out Jason Botts looking to end the threat.

Toronto reliever Jesse Carlson (1-0) pitched two-thirds of an inning in the bottom of the ninth to pick up his first career win.

"We just couldn't have scripted this series any better," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "After getting swept in Oakland, we came in here and we got here in the middle of the night, we're tired, but our guys played some great ball. It wasn't easy but we definitely like the direction we're moving as a team."