Blue Jays beat the Rangers 3-2 and take the series

Sunday afternoon was the rubber match in the three game set. The Blue Jays attemping to close the gap in the AL East sent out 7-1 Drew Hutchison. The Rangers countered with 2-2 Chi Chi Gonzalez.

Rougned Odor picked up a one out single in the top of the 1st inning. Ezequiel Carrera made a great play to hold Odor to a single on what could have easily been a double. Prince Fielder popped out in foul ground. Odor stole 2nd base and was able to advance to 3rd on an arrant throw from Russell Martin. It didn’t matter as Adrian Beltre struck out to end the inning,

Elvis Andrus reached base with a one out infield single. He quickly took off and stole 2nd base. Joey Gallo drew a walk to put two runners on base. Leonys Martin reached base on a fielders choice after a close throw to first almost resulted in a double play. Leonys Martin quickly took off running and stole 2nd base. That put two runners in scoring position with two outs. Robinson Chirinos struck out to end the inning.

Prince Fielder drew a two out walk in the top of the 3rd inning. The base runner was erased after Adrian Beltre struck out to end the inning.

Josh Donaldson broke up Chi Chi’s no hitter in the bottom of the 4th inning with a one out solo home run. Jose Bautista flew out to left field. With two outs Edwin Encarnacion and Dioner Navarro drew back to back walks. Russell Martin flied out to center field to end the inning.

Ezequiel Carrera led off the bottom of the 5th with a walk. Kevin Pillar flied out to center for the first out. Devon Travis hit a double to left field scoring Carrera. Jose Reyes hit a single to center field and Devon Travis scored from 2nd base. Josh Donaldson hit a single to center field. Jose Reyes attempted to advance to 3rd base and was gunned down. Donaldson advanced to 2nd base on the throw to 3rd. Jose Bautista drew a two out walk. Edwin Encarnacion ground out to 3rd to end the inning.

In the top of the 6th inning Prince Fielder hit a single to left field with one out. Adrian Beltre got on base after an error by Devon Travis. Mitch Moreland reached base on a fielders choice. Prince Fielder advanced to 3rd base on the play. With two outs and two runners on base Elvis Andrus hit a single to center field. Joey Gallo walked to load up the bases. That marked the end of the afternoon for Drew Hutchison. Aaron Loup came in to the game to face Leonys Martin and picked up a clutch strike out.

Shin-soo Choo hit a one out single in the top of the 7th. Rougned Odor also hit a single making it back to back singles to put two runners on base. Prince Fielder hit a ball off of Edwin Encarnacion’s glove for an infield single. With the bases loaded Aaron Loup was yanked and Bo Shultz came in to the game. Shultz did enduce a ground ball off of Adrian Beltre’s bat but they couldn’t turn the double play. Choo scored on the play and left two runners on base with two outs. Mitch Moreland hit a ground ball straight to 1st base to end the inning.

Spencer Patton came in to pitch in the bottom of the 7th for the Rangers. He had an uneventful inning retiring all three batters faced.

Steve Delabar entered the game in the 8th inning. Elvis Andrus led off the inning with a double to left field. Joey Gallo ground out but advanced the runner to 3rd base. Leonys Martin struck out for the 2nd out of the inning. Robinson Chirinos drew a walk with two out putting runners on 1st and 3rd. Roberto Osuna entered the game to attempt a 4 out save. Osuna struck out Shin-soo Choo to end the 8th inning.

Tanner Scheppers came in to pitch the 8th for the Rangers and retired the side.

Justin Smoak came in as a defensive replacement for Encarnacion. Rougned Odor led off the 9th with a double off the wall in right field. Prince Fielder hit a fly ball deep enough to advance the runner to 3rd base. With two outs and a runner on 3rd base Mitch Moreland struck out. Roberto Osuna picked up the 4 out save.

Game Notes:

• Kevin Pillar had his 11 game hit streak snap today going 0/3.
• After piling up runs on Friday night the Blue Jays could only must a combined 7 hits on Saturday and Sunday.
• Chi Chi Gonzalez had a perfect game brewing until Josh Donaldson took him deep for his 18th home run.
• As the broadcast team kept repeating this was their first win with 4 hits or less. Josh Donaldson accounted for half of the Blue Jays hits.
• Speaking of Josh Donaldson, he is on pace to hit 38 HR and 102 RBI in his first season as a Blue Jay.

Grades: