ARLINGTON -- Every baseball game becomes a chess match between the managers sitting in opposite dugouts. On Saturday, the board changed on John Schneider only four outs into the game.
Rangers starter Cal Quantrill's early exit forced the Blue Jays to adjust their offensive game plan, while José Soriano's uneven outing put Toronto in an early hole in a 6-2 loss at Globe Life Field.
“You fire all your bullets early, what is Skip [Schumaker] going to do [to] counteract that?” Schneider said. “How many players you're going to burn in the first six innings plays into it. We got some guys that are grinding physically. You're trying to hold off some guys to kind of run for them later, but you gotta pick your spots.
“But it's tough when the game plan totally flips in the second … facing [lefty Jordan Montgomery, who] you're not really prepared for.”
The loss dealt another blow to the Blue Jays’ dwindling postseason hopes. The White Sox won earlier Saturday before the Guardians beat the Athletics, keeping Chicago in control of the third AL Wild Card spot.
Toronto sits three games behind the White Sox and, because Chicago owns the head-to-head tiebreaker, the Blue Jays need to finish outright ahead of them to claim the final Wild Card spot.
Soriano threw five-plus frames, allowing six runs (five earned) on four hits while striking out eight and walking one batter. He generated plenty of swing-and-misses, but couldn't keep the Rangers from capitalizing when opportunities arose.
“Sometimes the team you face is going to let you know what pitch you can use the most [that day],” Soriano said. “Today I had a good result throwing the curveball.”
Soriano began his outing by striking out Ezequiel Duran on an 84.9 mph knuckle curveball before Josh Jung connected on a first-pitch 96.7 mph sinker that leaked over the middle of the plate for a solo home run.
“[Soriano] had really good stuff … kind of got ambushed by the homer in the first, pretty apparent they're coming after his fastball,” Schneider said. “Weird line score for sure … we're trying to get him through that sixth inning with tomorrow being a bullpen day, and then, you know, just some unfortunate add-on runs there [in the sixth].”
Texas built a 3-0 lead in the second without recording another hit. Soriano walked Wyatt Langford before striking out Jake Burger for the first out, then hit Nicky Lopez with a knuckle curveball.
Danny Jansen reached on a fielder's choice, with Langford crossing home plate when shortstop Andrés Giménez made a great stop to his right but yanked his throw across his body and past second baseman Josh Smith. The error allowed Lopez to advance to third, and he later scored on a wild pitch with Evan Carter at the plate.
Soriano found some rhythm after the second -- striking out the side in the third -- but the Rangers broke through again later in his outing. He hit Jung and surrendered an RBI double to Langford before being charged with two more runs in the sixth after exiting without recording an out.
“Everything today was working good,” Soriano said. “The command was there. Just things that I can’t control happen in the game. Unfortunately, I have those results … [The Rangers have] a really good lineup. They made a good approach, especially third time, second time through the order.”
Toronto's offense didn’t provide much support, either. The Blue Jays currently have the second-fewest runs scored in the Majors (622), and Texas retired the first 10 Toronto batters in order.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. became Toronto's first baserunner with a walk in the fourth, but the no-hit bid remained intact until Brett Bateman singled in the sixth off Nathan Eovaldi. Alejandro Kirk followed with an RBI single to center field to cut Toronto's deficit to 3-1. Davis Schneider, who pinch-hit for Nathan Lukes in the seventh, added a solo homer to left to cap the scoring in the seventh.
“There's not a whole lot of extra-base hits,” John Schneider said. “[Davis] hits the home run. [Myles Straw] had a double yesterday. I think you’ve got to slug a little bit more and force the issue a little bit, and then have guys who make contact, make contact. If you're not doing that, you're trying to string together like four or five hits an inning, and I think that's kind of been the theme so far.”