4-6 - Rangers show bite is worse than bark, defeat Jays 5-1

I suppose the only reasonable explanation for the Rangers playing their best game of the year to date is that they’re inclined to perform well in near-freezing temps with dogs on hand to watch.

These Rangers are very specific.

It was 40 degrees at first pitch for Bark at the Park night in Arlington and the Rangers gave the home town pups something to howl about as Texas scored the first five runs of the game and coasted to a 5-1 victory.

The offense outpaced the Jays for five runs on eight hits and they reasonably could have scored more if not for a couple of spectacular plays in the field early in the game that kept a few runs off the ledger of Toronto starter Marcus Stroman.

Joey Gallo went 1-for-2 with two walks and a two-out, two-run scoring RBI double that broke the game open in the bottom of the fifth. Jurickson Profar, Juan Centeno, and Ryan Rua also drove in runs as the bottom of the order finally did some of the heavy lifting.

The Rangers also got a nice diving stab from Profar at third base who was able to start a double play for his effort. The defense as a whole got through the game with the considerable achievement of not embarrassing itself.

Player of the Game: The pitching was the real story of the night with Mike Minor giving the Rangers their second quality start of the season. Minor went six innings and allowed a run on just two hits and two walks while striking out seven Blue Jays.

A few more outings like that and Minor will start to look like a real bargain after Texas sought his services early in the winter with the intention of converting him back to the rotation despite a stellar year in the Kansas City bullpen last season.

Up Next: The Rangers and Blue Jays play the rubber match of this series with Texas looking to grab its first series win of the year. Texas will turn to Cole Hamels in the finale against LHP Jaime Garcia of Toronto. First pitch from The Ballpark is scheduled for 2:05 pm CT.