Rangers complete – Jarred Kelenic scored on a wild pitch in the ninth as the Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2 to complete a four-game sweep at Rogers Centre.
TORONTO — The Blue Jays didn’t just lose Sunday. They lost late again, letting the moment slip into the next inning and the next night of the same story.
In the ninth. pinch-runner Jarred Kelenic scored from second base on a Louis Varland wild pitch that turned into a scramble for catcher Alejandro Kirk. Varland’s ball in the dirt bounced off Kirk to the screen near the Rangers’ on-deck circle. and by the time Kirk tracked where it ended. Kelenic had rounded third and crossed home. The Texas Rangers held on for a 3-2 win and a four-game sweep of Toronto.
Toronto had the series finale tied 2-2 in the eighth. Nathan Lukes delivered a one-out, two-run 404-foot rip into the right-field seats off reliever Cole Winn (3-2). But the tie didn’t last. Tyler Alexander pitched a clean ninth for Texas’ fourth save. sealing a sixth straight loss for the Blue Jays. matching their season-long losing streak as they fell to 39-45 in front of 40. 898 at Rogers Centre. Varland (3-3) took the loss.
Texas struck first and stayed steady. After Joc Pederson’s lead-off longball, the Rangers added another run in the fifth when Elias Diaz hit a bases-loaded bloop single off reliever Adam Macko.
Shane Bieber was on the hook for that second Texas run. The Blue Jays starter lasted 5 1/3 innings, giving up four hits, four walks and four strikeouts.
Texas starter Kumar Rocker set the tone early with six shutout innings. He struck out five, walked one and allowed four hits.
The late innings punished Toronto for what had already been a fragile stretch. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went 0 for 9 in the final two games of the series. and Toronto’s pitching had carried a worrying pattern: the Blue Jays allowed a run in the first inning in each of the seven games of their homestand so far.
A day after Pederson changed the rhythm with the opener, his follow-through mattered again. His first-pitch homer into the Texas bullpen in right field was his second lead-off longball in the series and the 29th of his career.
For Bieber, there was a milestone moment tucked into a difficult afternoon. He struck out Josh Jung for the second out of the fifth inning, his 1,000th career strikeout, then went on to strike out the side in the fifth.
Toronto lineup notes came with their own uncertainty. Sean Keys. 23. did not play in the series finale after going 1 for 4 with a sixth-inning single in his Major League Baseball debut on Saturday. And the Blue Jays will now turn to what comes next: Bo Bichette returns with the New York Mets (35-48) to begin a three-game series against Toronto. Entering Sunday, Bichette had 10 homers, 46 RBI and a .254 average.
The sweep left Texas in control and Toronto staring at the kind of late-game heartbreak that’s becoming familiar—tied in the eighth, chasing in the ninth, and again coming up short.
Blue Jays Rangers Jarred Kelenic Louis Varland Alejandro Kirk Shane Bieber Kumar Rocker Nathan Lukes Cole Winn Tyler Alexander Joc Pederson Elias Diaz