Bo knows he’s nearing history with streak
TORONTO — Veteran shortstop Elvis Andrus had four hits and drove in two runs to help the Texas Rangers to a 7-3 American League baseball victory against the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday afternoon.
The matinee victory enabled the Rangers (60-60) to avoid a three-game sweep after they were outscored 22-4 in the first two games of the series at Rogers Centre. Andrus, 30, smashed three singles and a double to move closer to becoming the all-time hits leader in Rangers history. His 1,683 career hits are second to Rafael Palmeiro’s 1,692.
A day after marking his 22nd birthday, Texas lefty Kolby Allard (1-0) picked up his first win for the Rangers since he was acquired from Atlanta on July 30. He yielded three runs on four hits in 5 2/3 innings.
The young Blue Jays (51-73) lost for only the second time in six games. They have won 11 of their last 17 outings.
Toronto starter Sean ReidFoley (2-3), who made his majorleague debut a year and one day ago, lasted only 88 pitches and 3 1/3 innings. The Rangers went ahead 1-0 in the second inning. Outfielder Nomar Mazara led off with a double to left field and scored when Delino DeShields singled to centre.
Reid-Foley issued back-to-back walks to Texas third baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa and DeShields to start the fourth inning before he was relieved with the Blue Jays trailing just 1-0. They came in to score when Danny Santana doubled off Blue Jays reliever Buddy Boshers.
Santana scored to push Texas to a 4-0 lead when Andrus singled to centre off Zack Godley, Toronto’s third pitcher of the game.
The Blue Jays finally checked in with a run in their half of the fourth. Randal Grichuk led off with a triple to right field and scored on Brandon Drury’s ground ball to Andrus.
Andrus continued his solid outing with a double to right field in the sixth inning that scored Santana, who reached base on a fielder’s choice, for a 5-1 lead.
The Blue Jays scored twice in the sixth. Teoscar Hernandez walked to start the frame. He advanced to third on Rowdy Tellez’s single to right field and scored on a wild pitch. Tellez scored on catcher Danny Jansen’s single to left field.
Toronto rookie Bo Bichette kept the inning going with a doublea. But Jansen and Bichette were stranded when Cavan Biggio struck out to end the rally. Biggio is just 4-for-27 with five walks in his last seven games.
Bichette’s hit extended his on-base streak to 17 games to start a career. That matches Bill Russell (Los Angeles Dodgers, 1969) for the second-longest streak to start a career. Rocco Baldelli (Tampa Bay Rays, 2003) has the record at 24.
The Rangers clubbed a pair of late solo homers from Mazara in the seventh and Santana in the eighth.