The Jays took care of business on a bullpen day, rolling past the Rangers 7-2 behind a strong mix of pitching depth and a lineup that kept passing the baton.
Spencer Miles set the tone early, working three scoreless innings with four strikeouts. The club has apparently moved away from limiting his workload, and while that decision may not fully reveal itself until later, he’s been excellent so far.
Spencer Arrighetti handled 2.1 innings after that and allowed a pair of runs, both on a Jake Burger home run that Brett Bateman nearly brought back into the park. It was Burger’s 27th homer, so it’s not exactly like he picked on one arm.
From there, the game belonged to the shorter outings. Mason Fluharty got only one out in the sixth while allowing a hit and a walk.
Paul Sewald finished that inning. José Rodríguez, making just his second MLB appearance, worked the seventh and gave up a single while striking out one.
Tyler Rogers covered the eighth and allowed only a single, and Louis Varland came in for the ninth despite the comfortable margin, simply because he hadn’t pitched in a few days.
The offense spread the work around too. The Jays scored once in the first when Brett Bateman walked to open the game, Vladimir Guerrero singled him to third, and Nathan Lukes drove him in with a sacrifice fly.
They added another in the third. Lukes singled with one out, then Sean Keys doubled him home.
In the fifth, Bateman again started things with a walk. Myles Straw followed with a single, and Keys drew a walk to load the bases.
The big inning came in the seventh, when Bateman opened with a double. Straw walked, Lukes singled in one after being asked to bunt twice and failing both times, Charles McAdoo doubled in two more, and Andrés Giménez added a single for the seventh run on an 108.4 mph line drive.
Toronto finished with 11 hits, and 10 different Jays had one. Lukes was the only player with two hits.
There was a downside, though. Guerrero left the game with back tightness after picking up a single.
Before the game, the Jays also learned that Dylan Cease is being shut down because of a tired arm. There’s still a chance he could start again at the end of the season if he recovers quickly, but that sounds unlikely with only a couple of games left.
Other Award: Arrighetti (-0.09) and Clement (-0.08).
The Jays open their final road series of the season tomorrow against the Orioles. Six games remain. They still vaguely have a chance, but at this point it’s also about getting some good ball before the long cold lonely winter, as George Harrison said.
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