Rangers at Blue Jays
The defending American League East champion Toronto Blue Jays didn’t get off to the best start in April but started May with a bang. The defending AL West champion Texas Rangers, who visit the Blue Jays for the start of a four-game series on Monday, went the other way with a strong April followed by a loss to begin the current month.
Toronto got strong starting pitching and power from the middle of its lineup in surging to the division title last season but had a hard time getting the two to work in the same game in April. The Blue Jays found the formula on Sunday and started out May on a winning note by getting eight strong innings from Marcus Stroman and home runs from Josh Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzki in a 5-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rangers closed April with four straight wins and allowed a total of seven runs in that span before ace Cole Hamels ended the string of strong starts in Sunday’s 9-6 loss to the Los Angeles Angels. The teams are meeting for the first time since a classic playoff series last fall that included an epic bat flip from Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista in Toronto’s clinching Game 5 victory.
TV: 7:07 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest (Texas), Sportsnet One (Toronto)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rangers RH A.J. Griffin (3-0, 2.52 ERA) vs. Blue Jays RH R.A. Dickey (1-3, 6.75)
Griffin allowed three or fewer runs in each of his four outings in April and is coming off his best start of the first month. The 28-year-old held the New York Yankees to one run and four hits over eight innings while striking out five in a win on Tuesday after topping out at six innings in his first three turns. Griffin has never lost to the Blue Jays, posting a 2-0 record with a 2.66 ERA in four starts.
Dickey is coming off the worst April of his career and ended the month getting rocked for six runs on eight hits – two home runs – in six innings against the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday. The veteran knuckleballer started Game 4 of the ALDS against the Rangers last fall and allowed one run and five hits in 4 2/3 innings to help Toronto force a Game 5. Dickey, who was originally drafted in the first round by Texas in 1996, is 2-2 with a 3.77 ERA in seven career regular-season games – four starts – against the Rangers.
WALK-OFFS
1. Donaldson recorded two home runs and five runs scored in the last three games.
2. Rangers OF Josh Hamilton (left knee) had a setback running the bases during a rehab assignment at Double-A Frisco on Saturday.
3. Tulowitzki is 1-for-16 in the last five games, dropping his average to .172.