TORONTO – The Texas Rangers listened to what everyone was saying before the American League Division Series started.
And now they have spoken.
“No one picked us this series, we know that,” said Rangers hard-throwing reliever Jake Diekman, one of a combination of five pitchers who picked up for starter Cole Hamels.
As a group they held the Toronto Blue Jays scoreless over seven innings, one of the keys to their 6-4 win in the 14-inning marathon that improved Texas to 2-0 in the best-of-five series that returns to Arlington Sunday night.
“We play very well at home,” Diekman said. “The crowd’s jacked up it’s going to be fun. We’re confident as a team. We’ll go to battle with anyone.”
So far they have been winning the battle against the Blue Jays’ offence, which dominated the opposition in the American League, but so far has largely been stifled.
In particular, Toronto’s big bats in the middle of the order have yet to do their standard damage.
Through two games Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Troy Tulowitzki are a combined 5-of-35, though Donaldson and Bautista have each hit a home run.
“They’re hitters,” said Diekman, who pitched two scoreless innings in Game 1, also. “I don’t think any of them are hitting 1.000. They’ve got out before, you just have to execute pitches and get quick outs.”
They’ve had some close calls, perhaps the scariest in the bottom of the 13th when Rangers reliever Keone Kela nibbled against Jose Bautista, choosing instead to take his chances with Edwin Encarnacion. It almost came back to bite him as Encarnacion flied out to the deepest part of the ballpark to end the inning, paving the way for the Rangers to win it in the top of the 14th.
That play followed a brief bench-clearing incident that followed after Donaldson hit a long ball into the left-field seats that was just foul. Glares were exchanged and words too, but nothing came of it.
“I saw that the situation was getting potentially bad, so I got out there to try and defuse it as quickly as I could,” said Rangers catcher Chris Gimenez, who was quick to obstruct Kela as he walked down from the mound toward Donaldson. “That’s potentially a huge situation to keep his head in the right spot.
“Somebody said something, I don’t know who it was. I didn’t hear Donaldson say anything, I thought it was someone behind him, it could have been someone in the crowd, for all I know. My only goal there was to defuse the situation as quick as possible, but emotions are going to be high.”
Said Donaldson: “We made eye contact and exchanged a few words and he didn’t back down and I didn’t back down.”
From there it was just a case of the Rangers holding their breath as Encarnacion’s ball took flight before finally landing in centre fielder Delino DeShields’ glove, 397 feet from home plate.
“You never know with the way the ball flies here with the roof closed and the crowd screaming,” said Gimenez, who thought it might be the game-winning home run when it left the bat. “I just prayed real quick that D.D. [DeShields] had enough room and thankfully, just by the hair of his chinny-chin-chin he made it.”
The Rangers aren’t taking their success against the meat of the Blue Jays order for granted, but they feel they have an approach that works.
“We’ve been keeping the ball down, I think,” said Gimenez. “They’re aggressive, but they’re patiently aggressive. They work hard to get their own pitch and they don’t miss and keeping guys off the bases in front of the big boys is part of it too.
“Our pitching staff has done a phenomenal job of making big pitches in big situations. That’s the best offence in baseball, to be able to keep them in check a little bit is a big, big plus for us.”