Toronto Blue Jays (11-13) at Texas Rangers (15-9), 2:05 p.m.
Probable Starting Pitchers: Toronto – Brandon Morrow (0-1, 5.06) Texas – Alexi Ogando (3-0, 2.13)
(Sports Network) – The Texas Rangers will try to wrap up their 10-game homestand with another victory this afternoon in the finale of a four-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays in Arlington.
The Rangers came into this set with a 10-2 record at home before dropping the first two games. However they rebounded last night with a 7-6 win to improve to 5-4 on the residency.
Mike Napoli and Michael Young both had two-run doubles during a six-run third inning for Texas, but Toronto kept chipping away. Mitch Moreland, though, made the comeback moot when he hit a go-ahead solo homer in the seventh inning that stood up as the game winner.
Making just his second major league appearance, Cody Eppley served up a game- tying homer to Juan Rivera in the top of the seventh. He still got the win after Arthur Rhodes and Darren Oliver shut Toronto down in the eighth and ninth innings. Oliver earned his second save of the season.
“It’s always great to have those guys behind you,” Eppley told Texas’ official website. “This is just a dream come true from everything … my first day here [on Saturday] and now this. I did hawk the win away from [starter Derek] Holland, but to get the opportunity and accomplish the dream of getting my first major league win is awesome.”
Rivera finished with three hits and drove in a pair of runs for the Blue Jays, who had 14 hits but left nine men on base. Despite the loss, Toronto has still won nine of the past 12 meetings with Texas.
The Blue Jays conclude the first leg of its 10-game road trip with this matchup before visiting the Yankees for three games this weekend. The swing then ends against the Rays.
Brandon Morrow makes his second start of the year after a right elbow injury pushed back his season debut until last Saturday. The right-hander pitched well, giving up three runs on three hits and two walks in 5 1/3 innings, but still suffered the loss despite 10 strikeouts.
“My arm felt great, the ball was coming out good,” Morrow, a 10-game winner a season ago told Toronto’s website. “Kind of put it all together this week from what I was working on down in Florida. Minus the first two hitters, I thought I did great.”
The 26-year-old right-hander has faced the Rangers 15 times in his career, including three starts, and is 3-4 with a save and 4.55 earned run average. Young, who had a 15-game hit streak end in Tuesday’s game, is 4-for-10 off of him in his career with a homer and three RBI.
Former reliever Alexi Ogando takes the mound for the Rangers 3-0 with a 2.13 ERA through four starts. He has reached at least six innings pitched in all four outings, including Saturday’s victory over the Royals in which he allowed a run on five hits and a walk in six innings.
“Once again, he went out there and kept us in the game,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “He didn’t have his best stuff but he was able to make pitches when he had to.”
The 27-year-old righty faces the Blue Jays for the first time in his career.