TORONTO -- Nathan Eovaldi was gifted a three-run lead by his offense before he even stepped onto the mound at Rogers Centre Friday night.
He made the most of it, tossing seven scoreless innings in the Rangers’ 5-4 win over the Blue Jays that secured at least a split of the four-game set in Toronto.
Texas added onto their early lead with a two-run homer from Justin Foscue in the third inning. And the Rangers needed each and every one of those runs.
Eovaldi put the Rangers in prime position with seven scoreless frames and the offense gave a five-run cushion. For the second day in a row, however, the bullpen bent, but didn’t completely break.
Rookie Robby Ahlstrom allowed a single and a walk and recorded just one out in the eighth inning. Then Jakob Junis, pitching on back-to-back days, allowed a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. RBI single and a Kazuma Okamoto homer -- just Junis' second homer allowed this season -- to make it a one-run game.