Rangers vs Blue Jays Recap: Foscue, Langford lift Texas to 5-4 win

The Texas Rangers came to Toronto hungry. They'd just beaten the Blue Jays 6–5 the night before, and they weren't done yet. At Rogers Centre on Friday, June 26, they put on a power display right away. In the top of the first inning, Brandon Nimmo stepped up and smacked a double down the right field line. Wyatt Langford raced home from third base. Then Justin Foscue lined a single to left, and Josh Jung scored easily. Ezequiel Duran followed with another single to right, and Nimmo came sliding across the plate. Just like that, the Rangers led 3–0 without even recording an out. Nathan Eovaldi took the mound for Texas, and his arm was ready to work. The veteran pitcher would become the story of this game.

The Rangers weren't satisfied. They kept attacking. In the third inning, Justin Foscue came up again and this time he crushed a pitch that sailed over the left field wall. Jake Burger scored ahead of him, making it 5–0 Texas. The Blue Jays were getting buried. Their starter Patrick Corbin couldn't find his control or his stuff. The Rangers' bats were awake and dangerous. What made this Rangers team scary was their pitching though. Eovaldi was throwing heat all night. By the time the game reached the eighth inning, he'd struck out nine batters and given up nothing. Zero runs. Zero earned runs. The Rangers' defense backed him up perfectly. Every ground ball found a glove. Every fly ball was caught in rhythm. Toronto's hitters looked lost at the plate trying to catch up to Eovaldi's fastball.

Toronto refused to go quietly into the night. The Blue Jays finally got on the scoreboard in the eighth inning when the Rangers' relief pitchers took over. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ripped a single up the middle, and Andres Gimenez and George Springer both came racing home. Then Kazuma Okamoto launched a home run to left-center field that rocketed 378 feet. His blast brought Guerrero Jr. around, cutting the deficit to 5–4. The Rangers' bullpen held firm though. Jacob Latz recorded the save, shutting the door in the ninth. The final score: Rangers 5, Blue Jays 4. Texas improved to 40–42 with the victory. Toronto fell to 39–43. Eovaldi earned the win thanks to his dominant seven innings of work. This was a gutsy performance from the Rangers pitcher who refused to let Toronto's bats catch fire.