The Texas Rangers will be looking to relocate their offense when they play the Toronto Blue Jays in the second game of their three-game series on Saturday night in Arlington, Texas.
The Rangers were unable to score over 12 innings in the series opener on Friday and lost 1-0. Texas had combined for 38 runs in its previous four games.
“It’s a crazy game,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward said after Friday’s loss. “You have this offense that just scores and scores and scores. … It’s just a funny game some times.”
The Rangers are hoping Lance Lynn (3-2, 5.45) can repeat his performance from Sunday, when he allowed one run and five hits in seven innings of a 14-1 win against the Seattle Mariners. That start came the day after teammate Mike Minor struck out 13 Mariners in a 15-1 win.
Minor came back with another strong performance on Friday against the Blue Jays, throwing eight shutout innings, but received no run support.
“(Minor) and I, together, have to do well,” Lynn told reporters after his last outing. “If we start doing what we’re supposed to do, maybe it starts trickling down and everybody does what they’re capable of, and we get on a roll. That’s our plan.”
The Blue Jays are trying to establish some consistency as well.
In the past two weeks, they twice have swept a three-game series from the Oakland A’s, but also during that span lost a three-game series to the Los Angeles Angels and a two-game series to the San Francisco Giants.
Toronto manager Charlie Montoyo is hoping the win on Friday will serve as a turning point.
“There’s nothing better than to win an extra-inning game because you get deflated when you lose those extra-inning games,” he said.
Toronto suffered a big blow when right-hander Matt Shoemaker sustained a season-ending knee injury on April 20 against the A’s. They Blue Jays haven’t needed a fifth starter to fill Shoemaker’s spot but will on Saturday, and they are expected to bring left-hander Thomas Pannone out of the bullpen to make that start.
Pannone (1-2, 5.40) has experience as a starter and hasn’t pitched since throwing 1 2/3 innings of relief on Sunday. The Rangers also have a number of left-handed hitters in their lineup.
The Blue Jays also made a roster move on Friday, designating utility player Alen Hanson for assignment and selecting the contract of right-hander Derek Law from Triple-A Buffalo. Both players were acquired from the Giants in a trade for outfielder Kevin Pillar on April 2.
Lynn spent six of his first eight seasons in the majors in the National League with the St. Louis Cardinals, so he’s only made four starts against the Blue Jays. He’s 0-2 with a 5.73 ERA.
Texas left fielder Joey Gallo had homered in three straight games before going 1-for-3 on Friday night with a single and two walks. He struck out swinging in his final at-bat to lead off the 12th and appeared in discomfort afterward.
Woodward said immediately after the game that he wasn’t sure what was bothering Gallo.
“He said he was fine. We’ll obviously evaluate him, see if anything happened there,” Woodward said. “I don’t know if his foot slipped, or he got a spike caught.”