Adolis García hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning, and Cody Bradford pitched seven solid innings as the Texas Rangers defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 on Wednesday night.
This win kept the defending World Series champions, the Rangers, in the AL West race, trailing first-place Houston by nine games with 10 games left. They are also seven games behind in the wild card race.
García sent an inside sinker over the left-field wall off Toronto starter Bowden Francis (8-5) after Wyatt Langford had singled.
“He swings hard, he swings a lot,” Francis said about García. “I guess the velo was dropping during that time.” Bradford (6-3) gave up five hits and did not walk anyone while striking out six batters.
The seven scoreless innings were the best he has pitched in a game during his two-year career. In his last start, he struggled, allowing a career-high nine hits, eight runs, and three homers in just 3 2/3 innings during a 14-4 loss at Arizona.
“Throughout the week, you’ve got to try and digest what happened, see where I can make adjustments, whether it was just game plan went wrong or just poor execution, or a little bit of both,” Bradford said. “Then you flush it.”
Bradford was perfect for four innings until Alejandro Kirk hit a hard ball back to the mound that hit Bradford’s left foot and rolled into right field for a single. This hit extended Kirk’s hitting streak to a career-high 12 games.
Spencer Horwitz’s double to left-center put runners on second and third with no outs, but Bradford then retired the next three batters.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider praised Bradford’s “deceptive fastball.”
“When you’re throwing 89, 92, you’ve got to have pretty good deception with that at this level,” Schneider said. “Kept us off balance.”
