Skid-stopper: Rangers’ Gallardo shuts down Toronto’s run machine
The Texas Rangers needed a win in the worst way.
A six-game slide had nearly sapped the month of June of all the good will the club had garnered while fighting its way back into the thick of the American League West race.
The Rangers had fallen to .500 for the first time since May 30 and Friday’s 10-run loss in the series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays matched the club’s biggest defeat of the season, replete with a position player mopping up on the mound in the ninth.
Enter Yovani Gallardo.
The Fort Worth-bred right-hander turned in another marvelous performance, shutting out the Blue Jays over eight-plus innings and snapping the skid with a 4-0 victory at Rogers Centre.
It’s the third shutout for Texas and first since Chi Chi Gonzalez’s complete-game effort at Kansas City on June 5. The Blue Jays’ explosive offense, which leads the majors with 417 runs scored (55 more runs than the Yankees, second in the MLB in runs) was shut out for the second time this season and the first time at home.
“Sometimes it takes a special outing like Yovani gave us today to be able to dig us out of it a little bit and now we have to build on it going into [Sunday],” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. “Against this ballclub in their ballpark … against a group of [hitters] who have been hot, coming off a performance they put together last night … when you’re on a six-game skid, yeah, you can call that a stopper-type performance.”
Gonzalez (2-2, 2.27 ERA) faces right-hander Drew Hutchison (7-1, 5.33 ERA) in the series finale at 12:07 p.m. Sunday.
Gallardo finished a glittering June with his most polished outing of the season. He held Toronto to three hits and two walks over 8 1/3 innings and never allowed a runner to reach second base. Shawn Tolleson relieved him after a one-out single in the ninth and quickly induced a 6-4-3 game-ending double play.
It is Gallardo’s longest outing since he threw a shutout on April 5, 2011, with Milwaukee. He hasn’t allowed an earned run in his past 23 1/3 innings (a career-long) and has allowed only three earned runs in his last 39 1/3 innings.
Gallardo’s ERA has dropped to 2.72 from 4.26 after he allowed four runs in five innings in a loss at Boston on May 19 Since that loss to the Red Sox, opponents have scored only five earned runs in his past 45 1/3 innings.
“Obviously, the last week we haven’t played the way we’ve wanted to, so to come out and get a big win after [Friday’s loss] I think it was big for us,” said Gallardo, who improved to 7-6. “We feel confident with any of the starters being able to do it. We all understand, as a staff, the earlier we stop [the losing streak] it’s going to get this team turned around and start swinging the bats hot again like they were doing. It was important for us to win today.”
Rougned Odor had two RBIs, including a sacrifice fly in the second that scored Elvis Andrus to give Gallardo all he needed. Mitch Moreland, Robinson Chirinos and Odor led off the fourth, fifth and seventh innings with solo homers to push the lead to 4-0. Prince Fielder, Adrian Beltre and Odor each had two of the Rangers’ 11 hits.
“He gave us a chance to get some runs on the board first and it just seemed like he cruised from there on out,” Moreland said. “That picked us up big time. That’s a hot team over there, a tough lineup to make it through. It seemed like he did exactly what he wanted to do and kept them off balance all day.”
Gallardo credited his catcher Chirinos with devising a good game plan. Chirinos pointed the finger right back at his pitcher.
“They were frustrated. They were looking for a pitch away, but he put it away where it’s tough to put a good swing on it,” Chirinos said of the Blue Jays. “He’s commanding every pitch. That’s been the key for him. His angle, the way it’s coming out of his hand and that angle he has when he throws the fastball, it’s tough to pick up.”
Stefan Stevenson
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Twitter: @StevensonFWST
This story was originally published June 27, 2015 at 5:20 PM with the headline "Skid-stopper: Rangers’ Gallardo shuts down Toronto’s run machine."