Rangers Beat Blue Jays 4-2
Posted September 9, 2010 11:03 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Mitch Moreland drove in three runs with a sacrifice fly and a two-run double and Colby Lewis pitched a solid 6 1-3 innings as the Texas Rangers defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 4-2 on Thursday.
The Rangers earned a split in the four-game series despite allowing Jose Bautista to hit his league-leading 44th home run. The Toronto slugger went deep in the bottom of the eighth against Darren O’Day.
Shawn Hill of Georgetown, Ont., had a good showing in his return to the majors. The Blue Jays pitcher allowed three runs, eight hits and two walks in 5 1-3 innings.
Lewis (10-12) held Toronto to five hits, two walks and a run.
He was chased shortly after allowing Lyle Overbay to hit his 18th homer of the season to lead off the seventh inning.
Neftali Feliz pitched the ninth for his 35th save.
Hill (0-1) was making his first major-league appearance since April 2009, when he was with the San Diego Padres. He went on to have a second reconstructive elbow surgery — known as Tommy John surgery — and has been working his way up the Blue Jays minor-league system.
He was 6-2 with a 1.61 earned-run average in 11 starts, finishing up at triple-A Las Vegas.
Hill’s first major-league victory was against the Blue Jays on July 4, 2004, when he was a member of the Montreal Expos. It was the last game played between the teams. Later that year, he had his first Tommy John surgery.
The Rangers loaded the bases against Hill with none out in the third inning. But he ended potential trouble by striking out Ian Kinsler and getting a double-play grounder from Michael Young.
He wasn’t so fortunate in the fourth, when the Rangers scored two runs — one unearned — as a result of an error by left-fielder Travis Snider.
David Murphy walked and Vladimir Guerrero singled. Snider’s error came on Nelson Cruz’s single and allowed Murphy to score, putting runners at second and third. Moreland’s sacrifice fly to centre-fielder Dewayne Wise scored Guerrero. Catcher John Buck couldn’t hold Wise’s throw to the plate.
The Rangers scored two more in the sixth. With one out, Guerrero singled and Cruz doubled. Left-hander Jesse Carlson replaced him and his only batter, Moreland, hit a two-run double.
