Rangers Rally Falls Short In Game 2 Of ALDS
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ARLINGTON (CBSDFW.COM/AP) - Edwin Encarnacion capped a three-homer burst in the fifth inning off Yu Darvish and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Texas Rangers 5-3 Friday to take a 2-0 lead in the AL Division Series.
Darvish gave up four home runs in a game for the first time in his career.
Wearing spikes that had "No Panic" printed on them, closer Roberto Osuna got a five-out save that sent the wild-card Blue Jays home looking to clinch the best-of-five matchup. Game 3 is Sunday night.
A reminder, though: Last year, Toronto lost the first two games of the ALDS at home against Texas, then rallied to win the series.
"I learned something last year ... you got to win three games," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "They've got a great team over there. You don't lead the American League, powerhouse league, you don't luck into that."
Kevin Pillar, Ezequiel Carrera and Encarnacion, who ended the wild-card game with a three-run homer in the 11th inning, hit solo homers in a five-batter span in the fifth.
Troy Tulowitzki's two-run drive in the second put 20-game winner J.A. Happ and the Blue Jays ahead to stay.
"Getting behind in the count, and they were looking for fastballs," Darvish said through his interpreter. "When I left it on the plate, they got it."
The home runs boosted the Blue Jays in a game in which they got outhit 13-6.
Happ allowed nine hits but only run while pitching into the sixth. The left-hander struck out five and walked one.
Darvish had as many strikeouts (four) in his five innings as homers allowed, becoming the first pitcher in the postseason to allow four homers in a game since Minnesota's Rick Reed against Oakland in Game 3 of the 2002 ALDS.
Texas has lost five straight ALDS games to the Blue Jays since winning the first two games in Toronto last October. The Rangers dropped to 1-11 in ALDS games in their home ballpark.
"We've got a good team. We all believe in each other," All-Star center fielder Ian Desmond said. "Just keep on fighting."
Texas scored twice in the eighth, including an RBI single by Carlos Gomez that hit reliever Francisco Liriano in the back of the neck. Liriano walked off the mound, and an ambulance was waiting to take him to the hospital after the game.
Osuna likely came in earlier than manager John Gibbons had planned, a move that followed Liriano getting struck.
Adrian Beltre was stranded at second after a leadoff double in the ninth.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Blue Jays: 2B Devon Travis was scratched from the starting lineup about an hour before first pitch because of right knee irritation.
Rangers: RF Shin-Soo Choo was out of the lineup after playing Game 1, but manager Jeff Banister said Choo was fine physically. Choo was on the disabled list four times this year, and had missed 39 games with a broken left forearm until last weekend.
UP NEXT
Blue Jays: One of the two losses by RHP Aaron Sanchez was to Texas, when he gave up a season high-matching six runs and was the loser in that May 15 game with the bench-clearing brawl after Bautista was punched by Rougned Odor.
Rangers: RHP Colby Lewis, who starts game 3, is 4-1 with a 2.38 ERA in nine career postseason games (eight starts) for Texas. In 2010, he won the AL Championship Series clincher to get the Rangers to their first World Series, and beat San Francisco in Game 3 for their only victory in that series.
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