Darren Oliver shines as Texas Rangers overpower Toronto Blue Jays 7-6 – MLB Update
Texas Rangers’ closer Darren Oliver struck out two hitters in the ninth inning as the team clinched a 7-6 victory against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington on Wednesday, April 27.
Oliver said of his performance, “Whatever role it is, I'm just trying to get outs. Sometimes they're the last outs of the game, sometimes they're more stressful outs, but the job got done. It might just put more gray hair on my head, but that's what I wanted
to have.”
The 40-year-old Oliver put all his efforts for his second save and allowed just two hits to Juan Rivera and Adam Lind in 22 pitches. He joined the Rangers roster in place of Neftali Feliz, who missed the games due to an injury. Feliz will recover from his
shoulder injury after May 6. There was a mix-up in the Rangers bull-pen regards to players which proved fruitful for the club.
Blue Jays’ designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion offered some resistance off Oliver but was struck-out after playing nine pitches. Both the teams were scoreless in the first two innings. In the third inning, Rivera took an RBI single while Lind had a sacrifice
fly as the Jays got a 2-0 edge.
On the other side, the Rangers’ short-stop Elvis Andrus contributed a two-run double, Napoli also made two runs and Nelson Cruz took an RBI single to take the Rangers to a 6-2 lead. Mike McCoy and Jose Bautista made an RBI single and two run double, respectively
for the Rangers and lessened the shortfall to 6-5 in the fourth inning.
The two teams remained scoreless in the sixth inning but Rivera struck a home-run against the Rangers’ reliever Cody Eppley during seventh inning to tie the score 6-6. Mitch Moreland broke the tie runs by striking a decisive home-run off Octavio Dotel in
the seventh inning towards the centre-field area and gave the Rangers a 7-6 lead.
Rangers’ starter Derek Holland was expensive as he allowed five runs on 11 hits including five earned runs and two strike-outs in five inning pitches.
Jays’ Manager John Farrell said of various critical errors, “[Encarnacion] makes a backhand play on the line ... if that throw is a foot shorter, it's a long hop and it's an easier pick [for Lind]. But it was a tough ball to dig out of the dirt.”
The Blue Jays’ starter Jo-Jo Reyes threw his worst pitching performance as he permitted six runs on just five hits including one strike-out in two inning pitches. He gave a walk to Ian Kinsler at the start of the game before getting out Moreland on his pitch.
Reyes was unable to perform like a winner from 23 previous starts.
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