Blue Jays power past Rangers for 2-0 series lead
ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Toronto Blue Jays smashed four home runs off Texas starter Yu Darvish and eased to a 5-3 victory in Game 2 of the American League Division Series.
The Blue Jays lead the series 2-0 and can clinch spot in the American League Championship Series with a win in Game 3 Sunday in Toronto.
Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki set the tone for the Jays when he cranked a two-run homer to left in the second to put Toronto up 2-0. Texas cut the lead to 2-1 in the fourth on Ian Desmond's RBI single off J.A. Happ, but Toronto more than had the answer in the top of the fifth.
Center fielder Kevin Pillar opened the inning with a solo homer to left. One batter later, Ezequiel Carrera homered off Darvish. Edwin Encarnacion ended the barrage with another solo homer to left to make it 5-1
The four homers allowed by Darvish were a career high and matched a postseason high. He was charged with five runs on five hits in his five innings of work.
Happ had no such problem with the Texas offense. He scattered nine hits over five innings, but limited the Rangers to just one run. He struck out five and walked just one.
Texas had several chances to get back into the game, scoring twice in the eighth to close the gap to two. Carlos Gomez lined a single that glanced off Toronto pitcher Francisco Liriano to drive in a run. Liriano was force to leave the game, bringing on Toronto closer Roberto Osuna with one out and runners on first and third. After giving up an RBI grounder to Desmond, Osuna struck out Carlos Beltran.
Osuna, the fifth Toronto reliever, worked around a leadoff double in the ninth to save the game.
Tulowitzki had two of the six Toronto hits. Desmond had three of the 13 Texas hits and two RBI. Ryan Rua also went 2-for-3, but the Rangers were just 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position.
NOTES: The nine-run loss in Game 1 matched the largest in Texas postseason history, with the other coming in a 9-0 defeat to San Francisco in Game 2 of the 2010 World Series. ... Texas will start RHP Colby Lewis in Game 3 Sunday against the Blue Jays. ... The nine-run win for the Blue Jays in Game 1 was the largest margin of victory in Toronto postseason history. ... The Game 1 outing by Texas LHP Alex Claudio in which he pitched 3 2/3 innings, was just the sixth scoreless relief outing in postseason history of at least 3 2/3 innings without a strikeout. The last time it happened was in 1990 by Oakland's Gene Nelson. ... Blue Jays RHP Marco Estrada now has the lowest postseason ERA by any Toronto starter with a minimum of 20 innings pitched. Estrada's ERA is 1.95, which is nearly a half of a run better than Juan Guzman (2.44).