The Texas Rangers scored six runs while the Toronto Blue Jays scored five runs.
After a disappointing last few games in Miami, the Rangers arrived in an entirely different country where leadoff hitter Joc Pederson immediately made an impact by battling Jays starter Kevin Gausman for an eleven pitch at-bat that concluded with a leadoff dong, his 12th of the season.
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The Rangers weren’t finished beating up on Gausman as in the third inning they got home runs from Wyatt Langford and Jake Burger to pad their lead. Langford’s dinger was of the three-run variety to put Texas up 4-0. It was his fifth home run in the last eight games as he’s gone nuclear here in late June.
Burger meanwhile hit his lead-leading 14th of the year, a two-run shot that put the Rangers up 6-0 and followed a walk from the returning Corey Seager.
With a big lead in the early innings, MacKenzie Gore was able to chew through some much-needed innings. Though he ran into some trouble in the fifth, allowing three runs to halve Texas’ lead, the left-hander ultimately went seven innings and allowed just those three runs on four hits and a walk. Gore also struck out five as he picked up his first win of the month.
Jakob Junis handled the eighth and then Jacob Latz survived a two-run Kazuma Okamoto homer to make us sweat out for his 15h save of the year. With the 81st game in the books, we’ve reached the halfway point of the 2026 season with Texas on the wrong side of the .500 mark but looking to surge ahead.
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Player of the Game: Gore enjoyed a quality start and Langford’s three-run blast was the biggest hit of the night but Pederson set the tone with his long at-bat that ended in a leadoff home run to flip the script on how the first inning had often gone for Texas in the first half.
In addition to the solo home run to begin the game, Pederson also singled ahead of Langford’s dong and walked twice.
Up Next: The Rangers and Blue Jays are back at it tomorrow evening with RHP Nathan Eovaldi expected to make the start for Texas opposite Rangers’ inning-eating hero from a season ago, LHP Patrick Corbin for Toronto.
The Friday night first pitch from Rogers Centre is scheduled for 6:07 pm CDT and will be aired on the Rangers Sports Network.
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