Rangers Hammered By Long Ball In 10-2 Loss To Blue Jays

The Texas Rangers did not get off to a great start in their first game back from the All-Star break.

Chris Halicke | Jul 16, 2021

The Rangers' return from the All-Star break came with a unceremonious thud, as the Toronto Blue Jays manhandled Texas by a score of 10-2.

The Blue Jays mashed five home runs in the ballgame, two of which came off the bat of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The four-day break may or may not have played a role in the lack of execution for the Rangers, but manager Chris Woodward is not about to make excuses.

"I know we had four days off, but so did they," Woodward said. "We just got our butts kicked tonight. That's the bottom line."

The Rangers have been beaten by the long ball, giving up 13 home runs over the past three games. In addition, Mike Foltynewicz leads the Major Leagues with 24 home runs allowed. Friday night's starter Jordan Lyles is now right behind him with 21 allowed.

A good portion of the homers that the duo have allowed have been solo shots. However, the long ball is increasingly becoming a consistent topic of discussion.

"It's something that we talk about a lot," Woodward explained. "We don't want to give up homers. We want to limit slug. We want to get as many outs as we can via the strikeout preferably. Secondly, we don't want to give up any slug, let alone a home run.

"It's something we are currently addressing and will continue to address. We can't win too many games if we give up three or four homers in a game."

On a positive note, Rangers catcher Jonah Heim became the first Buffalo native to play a Major League game in his hometown since John Gillespie of the Buffalo Bisons on October 1, 1890. Heim not only had plenty of his family in attendance, but received a nice reception.

"We all came from somewhere," Woodward said. "We don't have a big league team in my hometown. Not too many guys do. For him to come here and actually be able to play a big league game where a big league team doesn't even play, that's pretty special. And for the crowd to recognize that, I felt like that was pretty cool."

The Rangers (35-56) will try and bounce back against the Blue Jays (46-42) on Saturday afternoon. It will be a matchup of two southpaws as Texas sends out Kolby Allard (2-6, 3.69 ERA) to square off with Hyun Jin Ryu (8-5, 3.56 ERA).

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Published Jul 16, 2021

CHRIS HALICKE