Rangers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 as Nathan Eovaldi wins his third straight start

TORONTO (AP) — Nathan Eovaldi struck out nine in seven shutout innings to win his third straight start, Justin Foscue homered and drove in three runs, and the Texas Rangers held on to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 on Friday night.

Jacob Latz pitched the ninth for his 16th save in 18 chances as Texas survived a late Toronto rally to win for the fifth time in eight games.

Eovaldi (8-7) walked Daulton Varsho in the second and didn’t allow a hit until Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled in the fourth. Eovaldi allowed five hits.

The Rangers led 5-0 after seven, but after Robby Ahlstrom retired one of the three batters he faced in the eighth, Jakob Junis came on and gave up Guerrero’s two-run single that made it 5-2. Kazuma Okamoto followed with a two-run homer to make it 5-4.

The Rangers opened the scoring before Blue Jays left-hander Patrick Corbin recorded an out. Wyatt Langford singled and stole second, Josh Jung was hit by a pitch and Brandon Nimmo followed with an RBI double.

Foscue and Ezequiel Duran added RBI singles in the first.

Foscue drove in Jake Burger with a one-out homer in the third.

Corbin (2-4) allowed five runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings, extending his winless streak to six starts.

Duran stole second on a pitchout in the sixth, pulling his hand back to evade Ernie Clement’s tag attempt, then reaching over Clement to touch the base.

Rangers shortstop Corey Seager got the day off after returning from the concussion list Thursday. He’s expected to start Saturday.

Toronto outfielder Jesús Sánchez was shaken up when he crashed into the wall after catching Nimmo’s drive to end the seventh. Davis Schneider pinch hit in the bottom half.

Up next

Blue Jays RHP Dylan Cease (4-3, 2.75 ERA) is scheduled to start on Saturday afternoon. The Rangers had not named a starter.

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