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Rangers take hit in standings after pounding by Blue Jays
The ominous tone for the Texas Rangers was set in the bottom of the fourth inning Wednesday night when the Rangers got the first two runners on against Toronto ace David Price and then went out with a whimper in a tie game.
The high-octane Blue Jays know nothing about going out with a whimper and they showed that in the next half inning.
That's when former Rangers first-round pick Justin Smoak snapped a 2-2 tie by blasting a two-run homer off Colby Lewis to spark the Blue Jays to a 12-4 battering of the Rangers. The loss was the second straight for the Rangers and dropped them 5 ½ games behind Houston in the American League West and behind Minnesota for the No. 2 wild-card spot.
As bad as the Smoak homer was, it was the sixth inning in which the Jays ended any thoughts of a Texas comeback. That's when they scored six times, with Kevin Pillar ended the night for Lewis with a homer that pushed the Toronto lead to 5-2. Spencer Patton followed Lewis and didn't retire any of the five batters he faced, with Edwin Encarnacion's grand slam sending most of the friends and family crowd to the exits in what was then a 10-2 game.
The Rangers lost a heartbreaking 6-5 game in the series opener and then were pounded Wednesday. Manager Jeff Banister knows the team has to play better in Thursday's series finale.
"When you get punched in the mouth twice you've got to come out swinging," Banister said. "It's one of those situations, to go where we want to go, we've got to come back and play well tomorrow. We have to have our A game. We have to be focused tomorrow and find a way to grind one out however it goes. We can't give another one away."
The tone could have been different if the Rangers were able to get to Price in the fourth. Texas got two runs off him in the first on a homer from Adrian Beltre. But the Jays had tied the game by the time Texas tried to put together something again.
But after Mike Napoli singled and Elvis Andrus walked in a tie game, Ryan Strausborger was unable to get down a sacrifice bunt and then struck out. Chris Gimenez and Hanser Alberto followed with strikeouts, ended the inning and pretty much the night for Texas.
Lewis allowed five runs in his five-plus innings. The bullpen offered no relief on a night the Texas pitching staff set a new season high with 11 walks allowed.
Lewis walked a season-high four and felt like he gave the Blue Jays too many opportunities.
"It was one of those days that you've got to go out there and battle and it just didn't pan out," said Lewis, who lost for just the second time since the All-Star break. "I didn't throw strikes when I needed to throw strikes. I let too many baserunners on in key situations."
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