ARLINGTON, Texas — Corey Seager doubled home a run to finish a four-run second inning Friday night, and Trevor Williams threw 4 scoreless innings out of the bullpen to close it out. The Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-1, at Globe Life Field in the first game of a three-game series.
With the win, Texas (77-77) pulled even with the Houston Astros for first place in the American League West after Houston lost 6-2 to the Atlanta Braves. The Astros hold the tiebreaker, so the Rangers would need to win the division outright. Texas is also one game behind the Chicago White Sox (78-76) for the third and final AL Wild Card spot, and Chicago holds that tiebreaker as well, The Associated Press reported.
Toronto (76-78) fell one game behind Texas and two games out of the last wild card spot, with eight games left for both clubs. The Rangers have won five of their last six. Friday was also the 23rd time this season Texas has gotten back to .500, the most in the majors, according to the AP.
Six of the Rangers’ seven runs were unearned. Blue Jays pitchers walked 10 batters, and Toronto made three throwing errors, two of them by third baseman Kazuma Okamoto.
Kumar Rocker, Trevor Williams Hold Toronto Blue Jays To 1 Run
On Thursday afternoon, hours before the Rangers’ series finale against Boston, Kumar Rocker worked on pitchers’ fielding practice by himself with a small group of Texas coaches, MLB.com reported. Covering first base on balls hit to the right side had given him trouble this season, the report noted. On the first play Friday, Brett Bateman hit a slow roller to the right of first baseman Jake Burger, and Rocker got to the bag in time to take Burger’s toss for the first out.
Rocker (5-11) allowed 2 singles through the first four innings. In the fifth, he walked the first 2 batters he faced, and Josh Smith scored from second on a one-out double by nine-hole hitter Myles Straw. That ended Rocker’s night in his 29th game of the season. He worked 4 1/3 innings and allowed 3 hits and 1 earned run, with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts.
Tyler Alexander, who opened Thursday’s game against the Boston Red Sox, came on and got the last two outs of the fifth without letting an inherited runner score. Williams pitched the rest of the way and struck out 4 for his second win. Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said several of his relievers needed more than rest Friday, and the bullpen was limited enough that Texas planned to match up once Alexander got out of the fifth.
“Well, not only rest, they were down. So I had five guys down in the bullpen. So [we were] pretty limited,” Schumaker said. “And so Alexander had obviously a big outing to get out of it dirty. And then we were going to try to match up the best we could the remainder of the way.”
Williams signed with Texas on Sept. 1 after his release by the Washington Nationals. On Thursday, Schumaker used closer Jacob Latz in the eighth inning of a 4-3 loss to Boston, and Jakob Junis pitched in both the seventh and the eighth. The Rangers could not afford to burn either of the one or two leverage relievers they had left Friday, Schumaker said.
“And our offense really picked us up. I mean, gave us a cushion,” Schumaker explained. “Williams came in. Obviously haven’t used him in a little bit. And he had length. So we just kept riding him as long as he could. He was gassed at the end of that game and said, ‘I can give you another one if you need it,’ and that told me what kind of guy he is.”
“He knew the situation, knew that we were limited in the bullpen and we couldn’t just burn any of the one or two leverage guys that we potentially had left to use,” Schumaker continued. “And so for him to provide that inning, the last inning, was gigantic for us, giving us, what, four innings or something like that. So yeah, really good job.”
Getting a zero, and then another one every time after that, was Williams’ job in that spot. The Rangers have been picking each other up all year, he said, and he wanted to do a small part of that Friday.
“It’s all hands on deck right now,” Williams said. “My job in that spot is to get a zero, and then get one every time after that and give the team a chance to win this game. I’m glad that I did that today.”
“These guys have been picking up each other all year, and it’s been fun to watch the last few weeks,” Williams added. “I’m glad I could do a small part of that and pick them up today. I’m glad we got the win.”
Toronto’s Nathan Lukes came into the game with a 13-game hitting streak, the longest active run in the majors. He went 0-for-2, and Evan Carter ran down his deep line drive at the wall in right-center field before Davis Schneider pinch-hit for him in the fifth.
Dylan Cease Walks 6, Nicky Lopez Credits Jake Burger’s Pick At First Base
Before the game, Schumaker said the plan against Dylan Cease was to run up his pitch count and get him out in the fifth inning. Cease was gone with two outs in the third. In 2 2/3 innings, he allowed 3 hits and 4 runs, 1 of them earned, walked a season-high 6, and struck out a season-low 3. He needed 74 pitches and threw 36 for strikes.
Seager drew a four-pitch walk in the first inning and stole second. Cease has allowed 33 stolen bases this season, the most in the majors, MLB.com reported. His fastball averaged 93.6 mph Friday, compared to his season average of 96.9 mph. It averaged 94.8 mph on Sunday and 94.9 mph on Sept. 7.
Cease opened the second by walking back-to-back hitters, and Nicky Lopez singled to right to load the bases. With one out, Carter hit a grounder to shortstop Ernie Clement, who started there in place of Andrés Giménez. Wyatt Langford scored, and Burger followed him home when Clement’s throw to get him at third skipped past the base into foul territory.
Ezequiel Durán added a sacrifice fly, and Seager’s double to right made it 4-0 before Cease struck out Josh Jung to end the inning. In the third, Cease struck out Brandon Nimmo, walked 2 more, and gave up a second single to Lopez. His last batter was Elias Díaz, who struck out on the eighth pitch of the at-bat. Schumaker said Durán, Burger, and Lopez all made plays in the infield that kept Toronto off the scoreboard.
“We had good defense all around. I mean, Durán had some good plays. Jake Burger at first base made some incredible picks for those plays to happen,” Schumaker said.
“And, yeah, Nicky Lopez, he’s one of the best bunters on the team, doesn’t get a bunt down, decides to get a hit instead. So it shows you how smart I am,” Schumaker added. “But a couple good hits and really good at second base, forehand and backhand. He’s got a really strong arm to help make those plays. And again, all over the infield, I thought there was some really good plays tonight to keep them off the board.”
Lopez threw out Bateman from second base on a play that needed a pick from Burger at first. The Rangers’ lead was not yet big enough at that point, Lopez said.
“Nothing, none of that works out unless he makes that pick,” Lopez said. “I know a lot of it is ‘nice play, Nicky,’ but no, like that’s a huge pick from Burger and a momentum stopper, obviously, in that part of the game where we had a lead, but it wasn’t, it wasn’t big enough yet. And so for Burger to make that play was huge, and he’s been rock solid over there.”
Burger drove in 2 runs. After Toronto scored in the top of the fifth, Nimmo came home on Burger’s sacrifice fly in the bottom half. In the sixth, Langford drew a bases-loaded walk from Brendon Little with one out, and Jose Rodriguez replaced Little in his major league debut and got the next two outs. Burger’s RBI double off Joe Mantiply in the eighth made it 7-1.
Lopez has played for six major league teams. In 2021, with the Kansas City Royals, he hit .300 over 151 games. Helping in any way he can is the goal for him now.
“That’s all I really wanted was just given a chance, trying to catch my footing,” Lopez explained. “And Texas gave me a chance and believed in me. And I can’t say enough about the staff and the coaching staff and the players here. And obviously the front office for giving me a chance. So any way I can help contribute, it’s something I want to do.”
Boston took Thursday’s finale on a three-run homer by Trevor Story off Latz in the eighth inning. Sulking over that loss was not the approach for Lopez, with Texas down to single digits in games left.
“You’ve got to look at the positives,” Lopez said. “We played a good team in the Boston Red Sox. We took two of three out of them. I know we’re running out of time, and the amount of games are a little bit slimmer now, and we’re down to single digits, but you’ve got to take the positives out of that series and move forward and not really sulk about it.”
“We’re still right in the thick of it. Everything’s still in front of us,” Lopez continued. “If we just win today and move on, I think that’s more of the mentality. It’s how do we come to the ballpark ready to win today.”
Cal Quantrill (9-5, 2.90 ERA), cleared to start after back tightness, faces José Soriano (12-7, 3.56 ERA) on Saturday at 6:05 p.m. CT on Rangers Sports Network. Jacob deGrom starts Sunday’s 1:35 p.m. CT finale. Texas then hosts the New York Mets from Sept. 22 to 24 and closes the regular season with three games at the Minnesota Twins from Sept. 25 to 27.
