15-11 - Rangers serve up best revenge, beat Toronto 2-1

The three stars of this game against the Toronto Blue Jays for the Texas Rangers were arguably Brett Nicholas, A.J. Griffin, and Nomar Mazara.

Nicholas and Mazara each hit solo home runs to account for the Rangers' runs. Mazara's homer in the 8th ended up being the game winner. Mazara also threw out Michael Saunders at the plate in a 2-1 game in the 8th on a sac fly attempt on the same day it was announced that Mazara had won AL Rookie of the Month.

And then there was Griffin who was once again outstanding on the mound for Texas.

The funny thing about that trio is none of them were around for last October's series against the Blue Jays and with this being the first time that the Rangers have played in Toronto since the insane ALDS finale, a lot of headlines were written about how these two teams would manage while seeing each other again after such an intense battle.

Well, these two teams played another game worthy of October in a thriller the Rangers won 2-1 to help erase some bad memories. Oh, and Elvis Andrus made a great play in the 9th and then recorded the final out. This was a cathartic game.

Player of the Game: You know who Griffin reminded me of today? Yu Darvish. Not in stuff (except for his big, loopy curveball), but his line of six innings, three hits, one run, on a couple of walks and a career high nine strikeouts looked like a Darvish line.

Right down to the Rangers bungling the go-ahead run which would have given him a much-deserved win, it was pretty Darvishy. Regardless, the Rangers won, Yu Darvish is on his way back, the Rangers have a "problem" in the fact that they have a full rotation and Griffin has been exceptional in 2016. It is the best problem.

Up Next: The Rangers and Jays play the second game of this series with Martin Perez facing off against RHP Marco Estrada in a rematch of Game 3 of the 2015 ALDS. First pitch from Canada is scheduled for 6:07 pm CT.