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ARLINGTON, Texas — For a team desperate to put the kibosh on a three-game losing skid, the last place the Toronto Blue Jays wanted to find themselves was at the Rangers Ballpark.
This joint has been like Death Valley to the Blue Jays over the years.
Last season, the Jays were skunked in all three games by Texas and were 1-2 the year before. Over the past five seasons, the Rangers have won 12 of 17 games at home against the Jays.
Whatever bogeyman was haunting the joint for Toronto was sent scurrying for cover — at least for one game — as the Jays strung together a couple of big innings and capitalized on several mental miscues by the Rangers to grind out an 8-5 victory over the Rangers before 24,209 spectators last night.
Jays starter Jesse Litsch (2-0) allowed two runs and six hits over 5 2-3 innings in an 8-5 win over the Texas Rangers Friday night. (REUTERS/Mike Stone)
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It was a satisfying way for the Jays to kick off their five-game trip. Pitcher Jesse Litsch, 2-0, was dominant, holding the Rangers to two runs on six hits through 5 2/3 innings, while striking out five batters.
For a pitcher who is the fifth man in Toronto's five-man rotation, all Litsch keeps on doing is putting up sound performances for the Jays.
"That's what he did last year," Jays manager John Gibbons said. "The kid's a pitcher. He wasn't particularly sharp [last night], but he knows how to execute. He can make a big pitch when he needs it."The loss was hung on Vicente Padilla, who gave up five runs (four earned) on seven hits through six innings.
Lyle Overbay accounted for three of the Toronto runs with his first double of the season in the fourth inning, in which the Jays scored four runs to take control, leading 4-1.
Vernon Wells was 3-for-5, with two runs batted in.
After Jason Frasor gave up a run in the Rangers' ninth inning, Scott Downs entered the game and got the final two outs of the game to record his first save of the year.
Last night's game was the first in a three-game weekend set against the Rangers. After that, the Jays will wing their way to Baltimore for two against the Orioles.
Gibbons, who just watched his team lose three games in a row at home to the Oakland Athletics after sweeping the World Series champion Boston Red Sox, said he has no idea why the Jays have struggled in the Lone Star State.
"Who knows," Gibbons said with a shrug in his office before the game. "They always hit us.
"It's like we match up and dominate against some certain teams and then it happens in reverse. Every team goes through that."
In order to try to shake up the recent fortunes of his team, Gibbons altered the starting lineup, filling the batting order with all his left-handed hitters to try to combat the effectiveness of Padilla, a hard-throwing right-hander.
His biggest move was to sit out designated hitter Frank Thomas, who has three home runs this season, in favour of Matt Stairs.
Thomas only missed seven games last season for the Jays.
Buck Coats also got his first start of the season for the Jays in left field.
Typically, the game did not start well for the Jays.
Hank Blalock hammered a one-out 1-0 offering from Litsch into the stands in right field in the second inning, giving Texas a 1-0 lead.
Other than that, Litsch was solid, striking out the side.
Through the first four innings, Litsch recorded five strikeouts, matching his career best.
Padilla sailed through three innings with a perfect game, but that evaporated in the fourth when he was stung for four runs on four hits.
The key hit was a grounder just fair inside the bag at first base by Lyle Overbay with the bases loaded.
It rolled all the way into the right-field corner for a double.
That cleared the bags and gave the Jays a 4-1 lead.
Litsch got himself into a bit of a jam in the fourth inning, issuing a two-out walk to Gerald Laird to load the bases for Ben Brossard.
But Litsch regrouped and induced Brossard to ground out to first base to end the threat.
Texas shaved the score to 4-2 in the fifth inning when Ian Kinsler came home on a sacrifice fly to right field by Josh Hamilton.
Toronto regained its three-run cushion in the sixth inning in an odd fashion — on a double steal, with Gregg Zaun scoring from third base after Texas catcher Laird decided to try to cut down Coats on his attempted steal of second.
It wasn't even close at second base, and the Jays had a 5-2 lead.
The Jays shot in front 8-2 in the seventh inning when they battered Rangers reliever Kazuo Fukumori for three runs on four hits.
Texas regained some ground in its half of the seventh inning when Josh Hamilton unloaded on a first-pitch offering from reliever Brian Wolfe, a two-run home run to the second deck in right field that brought the score to 8-4.
After the game, the Jays made a roster move, sending Coats down to Triple-A Syracuse.
In his place, the Jays have elevated to the 25-man roster Joe Inglett, an infielder who is hitting .385 at Syracuse.
