ARLINGTON, Texas — Needing a win to stay alive, the Toronto Blue Jays reverted to what they do best: hitting the long ball.
Toronto clubbed three home runs — all the first two innings — to beat the Texas Rangers 8-4 Monday afternoon and even the American League Division Series at two games apiece.
The deciding Game 5 will be played Wednesday in Toronto. Neither team has won a home game in this series.
The Blue Jays led all of the majors with 232 home runs during the regular season. After two losses in Toronto, the Jays rediscovered their power stroke in Texas.
Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki broke open Game 3 with a three-run homer in Sunday night in Toronto’s’ 5-1 victory. On Monday, third baseman Josh Donaldson, first baseman Chris Colabello and center fielder Kevin Pillar each went deep with Toronto’s season hanging in the balance for the second consecutive game.
Pillar (3-for-4) finished with three RBIs, while Donaldson and Colabello each drove in two runs. Toronto racked up 12 hits.
The offense only told part of the story. The Blue Jays’ pitching staff gave up only five runs in the two games at Globe Life Park.
Toronto starter R.A. Dickey made his first career postseason appearance a memorable one, even if he didn’t qualify for the win. The 40-year-old knuckleballer allowed only one run, but he was pulled with two outs in the fifth inning for Game 1 starter David Price.
Price got the next nine outs, working into the eighth, to pick up the victory despite allowing three runs.
With Price out of the mix for the start Wednesday, Toronto manager John Gibbons will turn to right-hander Marcus Stroman in Game 5. Texas figures to counter with ace left-hander Cole Hamels.
The Jays jumped all over Texas starter Derek Holland in the first two innings, giving the left-hander his first career postseason loss. Holland couldn’t get an out in the third before getting yanked for right-hander Colby Lewis.
Donaldson started the onslaught with a two-run bomb to right in the first. Colabello followed two outs later with a solo blast to right for a 3-0 lead.
Pillar hit a mammoth shot to left-center in the second for a four-run lead.
When the dust settled, the Jays had scorched Holland for six runs on five hits. Lewis, the Rangers’ regular-season leader in wins, couldn’t stem the tide.
Of the Rangers’ 11 hits, nine came from right fielder Shin-Soo Choo, third baseman Adrian Beltre, shortstop Elvis Andrus and catcher Robinson Chirinos. Designated hitter Prince Fielder, left fielder Josh Hamilton and first baseman Mitch Moreland — three of Texas’ big bats — combined to go 1-for-10.
Choo scored Texas’ first run on Dickey’s wild pitch in the third. Chirinos had a run-scoring single in the seventh to make it 8-2.
The Rangers scored twice in the eighth against Price to close the gap to four runs before reliever Aaron Sanchez came on to end the inning with a strikeout.
Toronto rookie Roberto Osuna worked a perfect night to close it out.
NOTES: Texas 3B Adrian Beltre was back in the lineup and batting third, and he went 2-for-4. Beltre had not played since being pulled in the second inning of Game 1 with a back strain. … Toronto RHP R.A. Dickey, who began his career with the Rangers, made his postseason debut. … Texas LHP Derek Holland began the day 2-0 in four postseason starts, with both wins coming after Rangers losses.