Homer-Happy Rangers Beat Blue Jays

Photo by Tim Heitman/Getty Images

June 17, 2023

Rangers 4, Blue Jays 2

ARLINGTON, Tex. (June 17) — The Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by a score of 4–2 on Saturday afternoon. Josh Jung, Jonah Heim, and Corey Seager all had home runs that helped the Rangers secure the middle game in this series. This was a much-needed victory for the Rangers. It snapped their two-game losing streak and helped them maintain their lead over the Houston Astros in the AL West. That lead now stands at 4.5 games. The Rangers have a chance to win this three-game series against the Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 pm Central, and it will be a matchup of righties. Chris Bassitt (7–5, 4.02 ERA) will toe the rubber for the Blue Jays, and Jon Gray (6–2, 2.32 ERA) will start for the Rangers.

Jung and Heim Go Back-to-Back

Embed from Getty Images

In the top of the first, the Blue Jays jumped out to a 1–0 lead. A single to left by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. scored Bo Bichette, with Guerrero advancing to second on the off-target throw home by left fielder Ezequiel Duran. This made many Rangers fans do an uneasy shift in their seats, given the offensive slump the Rangers have been in lately. Much to their delight, however, the frame ended with only one run allowed. For when Daulton Varsho followed with a single to right, Adolis Garcia fired a perfectly on-target one-hopper to the plate. Guerrero was out by 15 feet, and the side was retired. The fans’ glee increased when the Rangers took a 2–1 lead in the bottom of the second. With Garcia on first via a walk, Jung hit a two-run blast to one of the deepest areas of Globe Life Field in right-center.

On deck was Heim, who proceeded to make it back-to-back homers for the Rangers with a solo shot of his own, also to right-center. The Blue Jays got one of those runs back in the top of the fourth. At this point in the game, there seemed to be a trend going on. Varsho hit a solo home run that also went to right-center, bringing the Blue Jays to within one run. The Rangers weren’t finished, however. Seager made it 4–2 Rangers with his tenth home run of the season. This one went to center field, and it marks five consecutive seasons in which Seager has hit 10 or more home runs.

Stunning Dunning

Embed from Getty Images

Dane Dunning got the start for the Rangers on Saturday. He earned the win after producing the third straight quality start by a member of the Rangers’ starting rotation. Dunning’s final line on the afternoon was 6 IP, 6 H, 2 R-ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 HR, 89 pitches/61 strikes. He improves to 6–1, with a 2.78 ERA in 16 games this season. Eight of those games were starts. His six wins are second-most among Rangers pitchers in 2023 behind Nathan Eovaldi, who has nine. He has exited with the Rangers holding a lead in six of his eight starts. Dunning remains undefeated with a record of 4–0 in eight games at Globe Life Field this season. He is the facility’s all-time leader (including the 2020 postseason) with 13 wins, 33 starts, 189 2/3 innings, and 172 strikeouts.

Will Smith earned his 12th save of the season after allowing two hits and striking out one in the ninth. Blue Jays starter Trevor Richards took his first loss of the season in his second start of the campaign. His line was 3 IP, 3 H, 3 R-ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 2 HR, 65 pitches/36 strikes. Richards made his first start of the year in his last outing on June 10 against the Minnesota Twins, where he also tossed exactly three innings. Before these past two starts, Richards worked exclusively out of the bullpen for the Blue Jays, with no record and three holds, a 3.67 ERA, 42 strikeouts, and 13 walks. As a side note, he is also five strikeouts shy of 500 for his career. Right-hander Yimi Garcia gave up the Rangers’ fourth and final run in the bottom of the seventh on the Seager home run.

Postgame Comments

Rangers manager Bruce Bochy elaborated on what this win meant to his team after the recent stretch they’ve had. He said, “It’s always good to win a close one. We scored four, and you hope that holds up, and it did because of our pitching. Today, the story was Dane Dunning. It was a good bounce-back performance by him. He threw the ball well tonight. He threw a lot of strikes and allowed one walk. Dane gave us six innings, and if I may be permitted a cliche, you take that every day. The bullpen also did a great job for us. Will Smith and Sborzy (Josh Sborz) did a great job. We needed this one, and everyone just came through very nicely.”

Shortly after Bochy exited, Dane Dunning took his seat in the interview room and had his turn with reporters. When asked what was working for him on Saturday, he said, “It felt really good just getting back on track. I was able to establish the zone early and execute pitches later on. In my past couple of outings, I’ve just been struggling. I haven’t been executing on 0-2 counts. I felt good out there today. My pitch count was efficient, and I was happy to get the win with these guys.”