Guzman hits tie-breaking RBI single as Rangers down Blue Jays 6-4

“That’s it. Looking forward to May. I’m putting April behind me.”

Ronald Guzman hit a tie-breaking two-run single off Stroman in the sixth inning and the Rangers held on to hand Toronto its first three-game loss of the season.

Joey Gallo hit a two-run homer and Nomar Mazara drove in a pair of runs as Texas (10-17) built up a 4-0 advantage in the first inning.

Stroman (0-3), pitching in his 100th career game, rebounded from the rough start to retire 12 of the next 14 batters he faced before running into trouble again in the sixth.

The right-hander allowed back-to-back singles to open the inning, and Guzman’s one-out base hit cashed in both runners to end Stroman’s night after 5 1/3 innings, inflating his earned-run average to 8.88. Stroman allowed all six runs over eight hits while walking one and striking out four.

“Just need to connect a few things in my delivery, put everything kind of in sync and I’ll be there,” said Stroman, who allowed a career-high eight runs in his previous start last week in New York. “I know I’m close but I’m not there yet and that’s why it’s frustrating.”

Manager John Gibbons remained optimistic after Stroman’s latest setback.

“He’s not going to be happy with the results but I’ve seen progress the last two games,” Gibbons said.

Steve Pearce hit a two-run double and Kevin Pillar and Justin Smoak drove in a run apiece for the Blue Jays (14-11).

Smoak had four hits while putting on a display of aggressive base-running throughout the game. He was thrown out on the basepaths twice — at home plate in the first and at third in the third inning — and stretched a single into a double in the fifth, thanks to an off-line throw from Gallo in left field.

“Thrown out at third, that was just a bad mistake on my part,” Smoak said. “I thought the ball got slowed down but I guess it didn’t. I’m not the fastest foot anyways so I have to be better at that.

“I was just trying to get to third base and it wasn’t a good play there.”

Gibbons said those base-running blunders could have made the difference in the game.

“We didn’t play good, primarily the base-running things,” he said. “Who knows, it might have been costly. But that’s really the first game it’s looked like that.”

Mike Minor (2-1) allowed four runs and nine hits over six innings and struck out four for the win. Keone Kela pitched the ninth for his fifth save.

Toronto chipped away with runs in the first, second and third to tie the game 4-4.

Teoscar Hernandez scored from third on Smoak’s soft liner to right in the first. Hernandez reached on a double — his 15th hit in 12 games since being recalled from triple-A — and advanced to third on a wild pitch.

Pearce’s double cashed in Russell Martin and Aledmys Diaz, cutting Texas’s lead to 4-3 in the second. Martin hit a leadoff double and advanced to third on Minor’s second wild pitch of the night. He was initially called out before a video review overturned the umpire’s decision.

Pillar tied the game with an RBI triple in the third.

Smoak said his team wouldn’t be bothered by its three-game slide.

“It’s going to happen throughout the year,” he said. “I feel like we’ve been playing well, we’ve been in a lot of games. Haven’t really gotten our butts kicked this year.

“I feel like we’ve had a chance to win every game.”

Melissa Couto, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Guzman hits tie-breaking RBI single as Rangers down Blue Jays 6-4

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