On Wednesday evening at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada, the Texas Rangers trounced the Toronto Blue Jays 7-0.
Max Scherzer, the Rangers’ (81-64) starting pitcher, received devastating news earlier in the day when a strained teres major was discovered to be the cause of his season-ending injury.
The Rangers weren’t affected by it, at least on Wednesday. The offense succeeded, with Nathaniel Lowe striking the game’s heaviest blow. Texas’s Jordan Montgomery (9-11) got off to a strong start. The Rangers also defeated the Blue Jays (80-66) to win their fifth straight game and the series.
Yusei Kikuchi (9-6) was unsuccessful.
As they head into the series finale against Toronto on Thursday, the Rangers are still in the hunt for the AL West Division and AL Wild Card.
Blue Jays 0; Rangers 7Here are some of the game’s highlights from Wednesday’s Rangers-Toronto Blue Jays matchup.
Montgomery Gets Things DoneJordan Montgomery threw a strike on the same day the Rangers revealed Max Scherzer would be out for the remainder of the regular season. The left-handed pitcher threw seven scoreless innings while allowing only four hits. He had three strikeouts and one walk.
In the eighth inning, Martn Pérez took over and tossed a scoreless inning.
To end the game, Ian Kennedy tossed a scoreless ninth inning.
The Offense Explodes… Texas once more reached double digits, this time for the 25th time this season and for the second time in the series, thanks to three home runs and two RBI singles.
First baseman Nathaniel Lowe led the way as the Rangers scored four runs in the fourth inning. Jonah Heim, the Rangers’ catcher, singled in Corey Seager to give his team a 1-0 advantage. Lowe hit his 16th home shot to dead center field, giving the Rangers a 4-0 advantage even though they still have two runners on base.
With the help of Grossman’s two-run home drive to left field in the fifth inning, Texas then increased its advantage to 6-0. Lowe was then brought home in the sixth inning by rookie Evan Carter’s RBI single, making the score 7-0.
The Rangers reached double digits in the ninth thanks to a three-run home run by Mitch Garver.
For the Rangers, Grossman, Lowe, Garver, and Carter each had two hits.
Coming UpOn Thursday at 6:07 p.m., the Rangers play their final game of a four-game trip against the Toronto Blue Jays. Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (11-4, 2.90) of the Rangers will make his third start since coming off the injured list, while right-hander Kevin Gausman (11-8, 3.28) of the Blue Jays will get the nod. After that game, the Rangers go to Cleveland to play the Guardians in a three-game series that gets underway on Friday.