Late rally falls short as Rangers go down, 2-0

ARLINGTON — The Blue Jays’ bats have come alive in Texas, and as a result, Toronto is one win away from advancing to the American League Championship Series.

Toronto homered four times to take a stranglehold over the AL Division Series with a 5-3 victory over the Rangers in Game 2 on Friday afternoon at Globe Life Park in Arlington. The Blue Jays now return north of the border with a 2-0 lead in the series and a chance to close things out on Sunday night, thanks in large part to Texas going 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position.

Troy Tulowitzki, Kevin Pillar, Ezequiel Carrera and Edwin Encarnacion all homered for the Blue Jays. All four home runs came off Yu Darvish, which set a career high for the Rangers right hander and also marked the most Toronto has hit in one postseason game. Tulowitzki finished his day 2-for-4, and he has five RBIs in the first two games of this series.

Game Date Time Matchup TV/Highlights Gm 1 Oct. 6   TOR 10, TEX 1 Gm 2 Oct. 7   TOR 5 TEX 3 Gm 3 Oct. 9 7:30 p.m. TEX @ TOR TBS/SN/TVA *Gm 4 Oct. 10 1 or 6 p.m. TEX @ TOR TBS/SN/TVA *Gm 5 Oct. 12 8 or 9:30 p.m. TOR @ TEX TBS/SN/TVA *- If necessary | All times listed ETShop for postseason gear: Rangers | Blue Jays • Complete Postseason coverage

Left-hander J.A. Happ picked up the victory for Toronto, but his outing was not as easy as the score made it seem. Texas had at least two baserunners in each of the first four innings of the game, but Happ managed to survive and pitch into the sixth. He was charged with one run on nine hits and a walk, while striking out five over five-plus innings.

Darvish looked electric on the mound early on, with a fastball that sat around 95 mph and nasty offspeed pitches that led to a trio of strikeouts early in the game. But he also made a few …

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