The Toronto Blue Jays will be going for their 10th series sweep of the season Sunday afternoon against the visiting Texas Rangers.
Toronto trounced Texas 14-2 on Saturday to clinch the three-game series. Texas has dropped four straight, including a 6-5 loss Friday when Toronto rallied for four runs in the eighth inning.
“I don’t know if there’s any way to fully comprehend it,” said Rangers first baseman Jake Burger, who had three hits, a walk and two RBIs on Saturday.
“We believe in this roster, this clubhouse. It is tough to come in here in a big series, lose a heartbreaker last night and then lose big. It’s tough to put into words.”
The Saturday game became farcical when Rowdy Tellez, a former Blue Jay and usually a first baseman, pitched the seventh and eighth innings for Texas. He allowed three runs on Davis Schneider’s home run.
Catcher Tyler Heineman pitched the ninth for Toronto and yielded a run.
Texas is scheduled to start right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (10-3. 1.71 ERA) in an attempt to salvage the series finale.
Eovaldi has had problems with Toronto, going 1-3 with a 5.62 ERA in 15 career games (14 starts). His start against Toronto on May 27, a 2-0 Texas win, ended after two innings because of elbow inflammation that put him on the injured list.
Toronto is slated to counter with right-hander Jose Berrios (9-4, 3.74), who is 3-1 with a 5.61 in 33 2/3 innings over seven career starts against Texas.
The Rangers will need an improved outing from Eovaldi after he allowed five runs and eight hits in five innings on Monday against the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks. The Rangers overcame a five-run disadvantage to win 7-6 in 10 innings, their only win over their past nine games.
“We won and that’s all that matters,” Eovaldi said after the game.
He was inconsistent with his splitter and the location of his fastball against Arizona and worked to improve that for Sunday.
“I’ll work on the side to go and figure out everything that I need to work on,” he said. “But regardless of how well I do out there, it’s about us, about the team winning games, especially with where we are at this point of the season.”
Toronto had power from an unexpected source on Saturday. Outfielder Myles Straw had the first two-homer game of his career with a career-best five RBIs and his fourth career four-hit game.
“When you’re starting the day, you don’t really think about Myles going deep twice,” Toronto manager John Schneider said.
It was a good day for Toronto’s outfield. Daulton Varsho and Schneider each had three hits, a walk, and a homer. According to OptaSTATS, it was the first time in the modern era that a team’s starting outfielders each reached base at least four times and homered at least once in the same game.
Toronto also welcomed back George Springer from the injured list because of a concussion. He batted leadoff for the first time this season and was 1-for-4 with a hit by pitch as designated hitter.
Outfielder Joey Loperfido was optioned to Triple-A Buffalo to make roster space for Springer.
Loperfido figures to be recalled in September when rosters expand.
“I think at this point, there is not really one person deserving of being optioned to the minors or sent down,” Schneider said.
Texas played without second baseman Marcus Semien, whose wrist was swollen after being hit by a pitch on Friday. X-rays were negative.
–Field Level Media
