Blue Jays 4, Rangers 2
Jose Reyes doubled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and Mark Buehrle tossed six-plus frames as visiting Toronto edged Texas for the second straight night.
Steve Delabar (3-0) pitched a scoreless 1 1/3 innings to notch the win and Casey Janssen worked a perfect ninth for his third save for the Blue Jays, who have won three straight. Jose Bautista went 2-for-2 with two walks and began the scoring with a first-inning home run off Robbie Ross, who exited with the game tied at 1 after throwing 91 pitches over 4 1/3 innings.
Toronto pulled ahead in the seventh as Anthony Gose hit a leadoff double, stole third and scored on Melky Cabrera’s groundout to third. The lead was short-lived, as Texas answered in the bottom half on Luis Sardinas’ run-scoring single off Aaron Loup after Buehrle allowed consecutive base hits by Robinson Chirinos and Leonys Martin.
Buehrle yielded two runs on seven hits over 6 2/3 innings and fell short in his bid to become the majors’ first eight-game winner. The Blue Jays took the lead in the eighth, when Kevin Pillar doubled off Neal Cotts (1-3) with one out and came home on Reyes’ two-out double to shallow right field before Edwin Encarnacion scored an insurance run in the ninth on Dioner Navarro’s sacrifice fly.
Texas, which has lost four straight and nine of its last 12, saw first baseman Prince Fielder’s streak of 546 consecutive games played come to an end as he missed the contest with a herniated disk in his neck. Fielder received a nerve-blocking injection and is not expected to play until Tuesday at the earliest.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Texas RHP Alexi Ogando left the game in the seventh inning with a bruised right hand after being hit by Toronto 3B Brett Lawrie’s comebacker, but X-rays were negative. … The Blue Jays activated Navarro from the bereavement list and optioned RHP Neil Wagner to Triple-A Buffalo. … Texas LHP Martin Perez will have season-ending Tommy John surgery on Monday and likely will miss most of next season.