Arlington, TX (Sports Network) - Vernon Wells hit his third homer in two days, and Edwin Encarnacion drove in the go-ahead run as part of a three-run ninth inning, as the Toronto Blue Jays held on for a 3-1 win over the Texas Rangers in the rubber match of a three-game series.
Blue Jays Score Three In Ninth To Beat Rangers
Rookie Mike McCoy, filling in at second base for Aaron Hill, who was scratched with right hamstring tightness, went 2-for-5 with an RBI single for Toronto, which got a strong seven-inning start from Ricky Romero. The left-hander allowed one run on five hits, struck out four and walked two but did not factor in the decision. Casey Janssen (1-0) earned the win for throwing a scoreless eighth inning. Jason Frasor earned his second save of the season.
Vladimir Guerrero had three of the Rangers five hits, and David Murphy added a double and a run scored in defeat. C.J. Wilson, who was the team's setup man in 2009, was promoted to the starting rotation and gave up five hits and two walks while striking out nine in seven scoreless frames.
With Texas clinging to a 1-0 lead, Frank Francisco (1-1) came on for the top of the ninth and served up a leadoff homer to Wells. Lyle Overbay followed with a triple off the left-field wall and crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly by Encarnacion to put the Blue Jays in front. Then, with runners on first and second later in the inning, McCoy grounded an RBI single up the middle to make it 3-1.
In the home ninth, Nelson Cruz worked a leadoff walk before Frasor fanned the next two batters and got Josh Hamilton on a game-ending ground out to second.
Romero gave up a single and double, putting runners on second and third to start the second inning before settling down to work out of trouble and keep the game scoreless.
Toronto threatened in the sixth as Jose Bautista led off with a double and Adam Lind followed with a single. After a brief mound visit by pitching coach Mike Maddux, Wilson struck out the next two batters, then retired Encarnacion on a lazy fly ball to right.
Scoreless after 7 1/2 innings, Texas finally broke through for a run in the home eighth. Murphy reached with a one-out bloop double and took third on Taylor Teagarden’s grounder to short. Then with Hamilton at the plate, Romero uncorked a wild pitch allowing Murphy to score.
Prior to the game, the Rangers placed catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia on the 15- day disabled list with upper back and left shoulder stiffness and recalled catcher Matt Treanor from Triple-A Oklahoma City...These two teams split their 10-game season series a year ago...Toronto went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine, while Texas finished 0-for-10 with RISP and left seven men on base.
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