ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) – Edwin Encarnacion hit a tiebreaking two-run double in the eighth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Texas Rangers 3-1 on Thursday night.
The slumping Rangers wasted another solid outing by Yu Darvish, who has made five consecutive starts without a victory.
Neal Cotts (2-1) replaced Darvish to start the eighth, when Emilio Bonifacio reached on a throwing error by Gold Glove third baseman Adrian Beltre. Munenori Kawasaki had a sacrifice bunt before Tanner Scheppers, the second reliever, walked Jose Bautista before the double to left-center by Encarnacion broke the 1-all tie.
Esmil Rogers (2-2) allowed one run over seven innings, the same as Darvish, who struck out nine to up his major league-leading total to 127.
Casey Janssen worked a perfect ninth for his 14th save.
Darvish allowed only three hits and walked two, but threw 110 pitches to get through seven innings.
Since his last victory May 16 against Detroit, Darvish lost 1-0 to Oakland and has gone four games in a row without getting a decision. The right-hander has a 2.08 ERA with 41 strikeouts in those 34 2-3 innings over those five games, but the Rangers have scored only seven runs for him in that same span – and four of the runs came in the same game.
Nelson Cruz homered for the Rangers (38-28), who have lost three in a row at home. They have dropped eight of 12 overall, falling out of first place in the AL West and two games behind Oakland.
The Athletics (41-27), who play four games in Texas next week, have won 21 of their last 26 games. They capped a three-game series sweep of the New York Yankees with a 3-2 win in 18 innings earlier Thursday.
Rangers center fielder Leonys Martin made a diving attempt to catch the game-deciding hit. He was fully extended when the ball went under his glove.
Martin sprained his left wrist after his gloved hand rolled awkwardly when he hit the ground. The Rangers said X-rays were negative, and said he was day to day with a mild sprain.
After Cruz homered in the second, Toronto got even in the third, when Bonifacio had a leadoff single.
Bonifacio then stole second, sliding headfirst with his hand stretched out to the base just ahead of the tag. Manager Ron Washington came out to discuss the call with second base umpire Paul Schrieber – television replays showed the ump got the call right. Bonifacio scored on a single by Melky Cabrera.
Darvish retired 14 of the last 15 batters he faced after that, including the last 10.
Rogers also retired 10 in a row around the same stretch, a streak that ended when Cruz had a two-out single in the seventh. But Rogers quickly got the third out and had thrown his last pitch when the Blue Jays went ahead.
NOTES: Blue Jays manager John Gibbons, a former Mets player and minor league manager, was named Thursday as one of the AL coaches for the All-Star game next month at Citi Field in New York. … Toronto had double plays to end each of the first two innings, including right fielder Bautista doubling off Chris McGuiness at first base in the second.
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