Toronto, ON – For Michael Young, 2012 has been a year to forget. But Sunday was a day worth remembering as the Texas Rangers took the rubber match against the Toronto Blue Jays, 11-2.
Young drove in five runs and homered for the first time since May 7, leading the Rangers to their third win in four games.
Matt Harrison (14-7) overcame Toronto blues to become the fourth American League pitcher to 14 wins. Harrison, who was 0-2 with an 18.00 earned run average in five games (four starts) against the Jays coming into Sunday, gave up two runs on two hits with seven strikeouts in eight innings.
"He worked fast, he got quick outs, he pounded the strike zone, he used all his pitches," Texas manager Ron Washington said of Harrison's outing.
Henderson Alvarez (7-11) did not have the same success, as the Rangers tagged the right-hander for eight runs on 12 hits and three walks in 4 1/3 innings en route to his fourth straight loss.
"I didn't think he used his secondary stuff enough, particularly as they started to be aggressive early in the counts," Toronto manager John Farrell said of Alvarez.
Mike McCoy hit his first home run of the season and drove in two runs but the Blue Jays lost for the fifth time in six games.
The Blue Jays scored first after Yunel Escobar singled and Moises Sierra walked to start the second inning. Escobar, who advanced to third on a bunt, came home on McCoy's groundout.
The lead did not last for long, as the Rangers erupted for eight unanswered runs.
David Murphy led off the third with a ground-rule double then scored on Geovany Soto's base hit. Mitch Moreland then put Texas ahead, 2-1, with a run- scoring single.
Murphy doubled home Young in the fourth before the Rangers exploded for five in the fifth.
Elvis Andrus picked up a one-out single and scored when Josh Hamilton sliced a double to the left-field gap. Following an Adrian Beltre walk and a Nelson Cruz RBI single, Young crushed a first-pitch fastball over the fence in left- center field to open up an 8-1 lead.
McCoy slammed a solo homer in the bottom half of the fifth, but the Rangers quickly piled on two more runs.
Andrus started the sixth with a base hit before being erased on Hamilton's fielder's choice ground out. After Beltre flew out, Cruz and Young delivered back-to-back ground-rule doubles to run Texas' lead to eight.
Murphy capped the scoring with a solo shot in the ninth, giving Texas an 11-2 lead.
Game Notes
Texas won its first season series against Toronto since 2006 (6-3) ... The Rangers have won four straight and nine of 10 rubber games since June 10 ... Texas is 20-11 in day games ... Harrison became the first Rangers lefty to record 10 road victories in a season ... Harrison matched his career-best with his 14th win ... Harrison tied Tampa Bay's David Price and Chicago's Chris Sale for the most wins in the AL since May 22 with 10 ... The Blue Jays failed to steal a base for the first time in 10 games ... Toronto has lost five of its last six completed series.