Kevin Gausman allowed only a solo home run over eight innings and Daulton Varsho homered among his three hits as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the struggling Texas Rangers 2-1 on Monday in Arlington, Texas.
Gausman (5-4) scattered five hits while striking out six without walking a batter to outduel Rangers ace Jacob deGrom. Jeff Hoffman retired the side in order to earn his 11th save as Toronto snapped a three-game losing streak.
The Blue Jays won despite scoring just two runs and have four total runs over their last four games.
The Rangers were led by two hits from rookie outfielder Alejandro Osuna in another lackluster offensive performance. The team has scored one or fewer runs in 14 of its 29 losses this season.
Texas has lost seven of its past eight games and scored just 20 total runs over that stretch.
Varsho touched up deGrom (4-2) in the first inning, rifling a shot into the right field stands with two outs to stake the Blue Jays to a 1-0 lead.
Toronto added to its lead in the fourth as Alejandro Kirk’s sacrifice fly drove home Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who had singled to open the frame and advanced to third on Varsho’s ground-rule double.
The Rangers got on the board in the bottom of the fourth on Wyatt Langford’s line-drive, solo home run over the fence in left field.
deGrom was pulled from the game with one on and one out in the sixth. Reliever Jacob Webb was immediately greeted by Addison Barger’s double to right field but worked out of the jam by getting Ernie Clement to fly out to right and Michael Stefanic to ground out to shortstop.
A two-time Cy Young Award winner, deGrom allowed both Blue Jays runs on five hits while walking two and not striking out a batter. It was the first time in his career he did not strike out a batter in a start, snapping a 228-game streak over 12 seasons.
Texas put only three batters on base after Langford’s home run.
–Field Level Media
