ARLINGTON – From Mike Napoli's walk to begin the ninth all the way to Michael Young's walkoff RBI single to end it, there was a feeling in the air that the Texas Rangers were not going to let this one slip past them.
Young’s hit with two outs pushed the Rangers past the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 on Saturday and guaranteed the Rangers a series win.
Mike Napoli walked to start the ninth and Mitch Moreland reached on an error after a sacrifice bunt before Ian Kinsler moved them up with another sacrifice. Elvis Andrus’ suicide squeeze scored Napoli as pinch runner Craig Gentry advanced to third.
Toronto intentionally walked Josh Hamilton and Young’s RBI single scored Gentry to end it.
Yunel Escobar reached first on an error by Andrus to lead off the game and Eric Thames followed with an RBI double, giving the Blue Jays an early 1-0 lead.
Texas countered in the third as Kinsler doubled and Hamilton drove him home with a triple to the right-center gap to tie the game. Hamilton finished 3 for 4.
The Rangers took the lead in the fourth when third baseman Chris Davis, called up from Round Rock today to replace Adrian Beltre, singled to right, scoring David Murphy from second.
Texas added another run in the fifth as Nelson Cruz doubled home Josh Hamilton, making it 3-1.
But J.P. Arencibia picked up his third home run in two games and Eric Thames’ RBI triple off Matt Harrison tied it in the sixth. Jose Bautista’s single scored Thames to give Toronto a 4-3 advantage.
Harrison tied a career-high with eight strikeouts and gave up four runs in 6 2/3 innings.
-Matthew Reagan
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