Blue Jays, Rangers look to get on track

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The Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers meet for Game 3 of the teams& four-game series Wednesday evening. It is a continuing tale not of fierce American League rivals, but rather of two teams hovering around .500. The Rangers are back at that level, 35-35, after snapping a two-game losing streak. The standard remains elusive for the Blue Jays.Article continues below … The pitching matchup features a pair of right-handers, Toronto Joe Biagini Texas& Tyson Ross . Biagini, 0-3 with a 6.00 ERA in his last three starts, is coming off his worst start of the season in which he allowed a career-high seven runs on eight hits in one inning in losing to the Chicago White Sox. The outing marked his shortest in eight starts. He is 1-1 with a 1.93 ERA in three games over his career the Rangers. Ross, who is 0-1 with a 1.93 ERA in four career games against Toronto, made his bosses and teammates giddy over his season debut on Friday in a victory over Seattle. The 30-year-old took a no-hitter into the fifth inning before finally leaving after 5 2 3 innings. He allowed two runs in his first appearance since the season opener in 2016 with the San Diego Padres https://www.shopthebluejays.com/17-Josh_Donaldson_Jersey. Ross missed all of last season and the first 2 1 2 months of 2017 with a shoulder problem that led to offseason surgery.You have to build off every positive you can and the last outing was nice for me to get out there and come away with a win and feeling healthy, Ross said.So I&m looking forward to this one and getting another win. A victory would send the Rangers back over .500, a level they have had trouble maintaining in the AL West. Texas was a season-best 24-21 on May 21. Third baseman Adrian Beltre and outfielder Carlos Gomez both bring hot bats into the game. Beltre has hit in 13 of 18 games since coming off the disabled list May 29. Gomez has nine RBIs in five games since coming off the DL and a nine-game hitting streak, dating to before he was sidelined with a hamstring injury.Yeah we lost but we didn&t need to change anything, just keep getting ready to play, Gomez said. Ross& return to the rotation was one of three Texas is waiting on. Lefty Cole Hamels will return soon, as will Andrew Cashner, both on the DL with oblique strains Tony Sanchez Jersey. Texas will continue to monitor Ross& pitch count, something that will likely continue the season half of the season.He been in a different routine for 15 months. It been a non-competitive playing routine, Texas manager Jeff Banister said.That the part getting back in. You&re competing against yourself in rehab. Now he competing against another team and getting into a routine. It does present some mental challenges. Toronto failed for a seventh time this season to get to .500 with a loss on Tuesday. Getting there might necessitate breaking out the champagne.We&ve sure had a hard time getting there, manager John Gibbons said.In baseball Marco Estrada Jersey, unless you play better than .500 ball, you&re probably not going to go anywhere. It would be a good little accomplishment for us, but then you&ve got to build on that. Jose Bautista getting hot would be helpful. He remains mired below .230 after and 0-for-4 on Tuesday. In the loss to Texas on Tuesday, the Blue Jays also failed to get a key hit in crucial situations. They had the bases full in the seventh with one out and could only muster one run.We&ve got a good team, said left fielder Steve Pearce.We&ll get over the hump, it just a matter of time. Said GibbonsWe&ve gotten there, and then gone back. We ended up salvaging our terrible start in the month of May, and then we&ve got to build. It would be big. It would be great.

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