81-64 - Rangers blast off on Blue Jays for 10-0 victory

The Texas Rangers scored ten runs while the Toronto Blue Jays scored zero runs.

After a few weeks of truly tragic baseball, the Rangers are suddenly hot. The turnaround that has now produced five consecutive wins and guarantees Texas of at least a series win this week in Toronto reminds of the adage that things are never quite as good as they seem when the team is winning and never as bad as they seem when they’re losing.

Maybe the Rangers of April and May were a bit of an outlier but the Rangers of late August and early September probably were one too. We know, given the metrics, that the Rangers are a pretty good team this year — one with pretty clear flaws and some pretty dynamic strengths — and in fact, with their 81st win, they won’t be below .500 in a season for the first time since 2016.

Now the next step is to keep winning so this roller coaster glides on into October.

Player of the Game: Second half Nate Nathaniel Lowe hit a big three-run dong to give the Rangers a rather comfy lead in a four-run 4th inning and Robbie Grossman followed that up with a two-run shot of his own an inning later to likely utterly baffle Blue Jays fans about the fact that he’s been a below replacement level player this year.

Mitch Garver added his own three-run blast in the 9th inning to cap off a big night at the plate for Texas.

But aside from a surging lineup, the Rangers also got an impressive bounce back performance from tonight’s starter Jordan Montgomery. After a couple of duds, including a loss to Oakland in his last outing, Montgomery produced a line of 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K on 97 pitches.

After the Max Scherzer early exit and then bummer injury news, Montgomery giving the Rangers a lengthy outing to keep the bullpen’s workload down and prevent opportunities for a disaster outing from the relievers feels important.

Up Next: The Rangers close out this series going for a sweep of the Jays with RHP Nathan Eovaldi set to match up against RHP Kevin Gausman in the finale.

The Thursday evening first pitch from Rogers Centre is set for 6:07 pm CT and will be aired on