Travis’ big night leads new-look Blue Jays lineup past Rangers

Devon Travis launched a grand slam in the second inning and Roberto Osuna got the save to help the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Texas Rangers 7-6.

TORONTO – There was no shortage of storylines to play out under the roof Friday night as the Texas Rangers arrived in town for a three-game weekend set with the Toronto Blue Jays.

You are perhaps aware that there is some hostile history between these teams of late, beginning with their meeting in the 2015 ALDS and featuring a Michael Bay film’s worth of tumult since, including punches, hit batters, verbal disputes, and epic walk-offs. You may also remember the last time these two sides shared a field, Josh Donaldson was sliding headfirst into home with an ALDS-winning run as the Rogers Centre shook around him.

There was also the matter of Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzki, two Blue Jays stars who were making their return to the lineup after long layoffs due to injury. And the Blue Jays in general, winners of three straight, continuing their quest to put a disastrous start to the season behind them and reinsert themselves into the race for the AL East.

So, a lot going on. And no surprise then that as the big digital clock in left field ticked past 10:00pm, only seven innings were in the books, as the two teams slugged it out in what was eventually a 7-6 Blue Jays victory. If there’s one thing Toronto and Texas cannot do, it’s play a dull game.

Rangers starter A.J. Griffin carried a 5.02 ERA into the night and managed to add nearly a full point to it, leaving his start with as many runs on his line as outs, which is never good. The Blue Jays were unable to get to Griffin in the first inning (aside from Donaldson’s reintroduction to the lineup with a loud double off the wall in left-centre) but, boy, did they ever get to him in the second.

Justin Smoak led off with a walk, Russell Martin singled, and Tulowitzki walked to load the bases for Devon Travis. Griffin challenged the Blue Jays second baseman with a centre-cut fastball and got away with it, as Travis fouled the pitch back. But when Griffin followed that with a change-up, Travis was sitting right on it, launching the pitch 361-feet over the left field wall for the second grand slam of his career.

“I was just trying to be ready early in the count and look for something over the plate,” Travis said. “Thankfully I stayed through it just enough to creep over the wall.”

Travis added two more hits on the night, including his 17th double of the season, which gives him the MLB lead. Travis is batting .488 (20-for-41) over his last 10 games, with nine doubles and three homers as he continues a torrid month of May.

“The biggest thing is being able to slow the game down and stick with your approach,” Travis said. “When you’re having a little bit of success, it’s a lot easier to believe in your approach and what you’re doing.”

Griffin left the game in the second due to injury, which brought in Austin Bibens-Dirkx, who retired the first four batters he faced until Smoak hammered a 2-1 off-speed pitch over the wall in right for Toronto’s fifth run. Kendrys Morales added another with a 397-foot solo shot off Bibens-Dirkx in the fifth.

[snippet id=3319157]

And the Blue Jays scored their seventh an inning later, when Travis raced home from third on a wild pitch by Rangers reliever Jeremy Jeffress.

Meanwhile, Mike Bolsinger took the mound for the Blue Jays and allowed the first batter to reach base in each of the five innings he appeared in, which isn’t what you want. But he did well to contain the potential damage, allowing only two earned runs over his 4.2 innings. He threw 50 of his 86 pitches for strikes, mixing high-80s fastballs and cutters with his 80-mph curveball, which he threw more than 43 per cent of the time.

“My whole mentality is: Forget about numbers. If you can just keep your team in the ballgame and give them a chance to win, you’re doing your job,” Bolsinger said. “We have a great bullpen. They put up zeros. We’ve got a great offence, they’re going to put up runs. So, if you can just minimize damage and keep your team in the ballgame, that’s doing your job.”

The Rangers got a run in the second, when Mike Napoli led off with a walk, and scampered to third base on Joey Gallo’s broken-bat groundball as Travis and Donaldson botched a double-play attempt at second. Jared Hoying took the very next pitch to deep left field for a sacrifice fly, plating Napoli with the game’s first run.

The Rangers got a second run in the fourth, as Napoli’s leadoff single came around to score on a wild pitch and two groundouts. And a third run in the fifth, when Napoli singled home Elvis Andrus’ leadoff walk, which ended Bolsinger’s night. Aaron Loup came on and needed just one pitch to get his team out of the jam before coming back out to throw a clean sixth for good measure.

Danny Barnes and Ryan Tepera followed with an inning of scoreless relief each to get the Blue Jays into the ninth with a four-run lead. But, of course — of courseRougned Odor came to the plate with two runners on and two out in the ninth and smoked a Joe Smith fastball into the right field seats to bring the Rangers within one.

That brought in Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna to face Napoli, who had reached base in three of his four plate appearances to that point. Osuna struck him out, winning the game and moving the Blue Jays to four games under .500.

[relatedlinks]

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.