Rangers 4 Blue Jays 2
TORONTO — Shawn Hill pitched a decent game Thursday, good enough to win some nights. But the good news for the Toronto Blue Jays is that he feels he can be better.
“Overall, it wasn’t terrible,” Hill said after the Blue Jays were beaten 4-2 by Texas. “All things considered it was OK.”
At least it was a start, the first in the majors for the 29-year-old from Georgetown, Ont., since he appeared for San Diego in April 2009. Now he is playing close to home and hoping to come back from two major elbow surgeries and other injuries.
Hill allowed three runs on eight hits and two walks over 5 1-3 innings. It was enough to draw praise from his manager.
“He pitched real well,” said Cito Gaston. “If he can go out there and have those kind of outings he can win some ball games. He pitched good enough to win.
“We just came up a little bit short on the offence and certainly we did not play good defence, either.”
The Blue Jays could only come up with two solo home runs — including Jose Bautista’s league-leading 44th off reliever Darren O‘Day in the eighth inning.
An inning earlier, Lyle Overbay hit his 18th of the year off starter Colby Lewis (10-12), who surrendered just five hits, two walks and a run.
Neftali Feliz pitched the ninth for his 35th save.
Mitch Moreland led the way offensively for Texas by driving in three runs with a sacrifice fly and a two-run double. The Rangers salvaged a split of the four-game series and earned Lewis his first victory since mid-July.
“He’s been pitching well, it’s just been a string of bad luck for him, not getting the breaks when he needs them,” said Moreland. “Tonight we were able to get him a win and get him back on track.”
Hill (0-1) had his second reconstructive elbow surgery — known as Tommy John surgery — last June. He’s spent this season working his way through Toronto’s minor-league system, going 6-2 with a 1.61 earned-run average in 11 starts.
He felt comfortable on the mound at Rogers Centre.
“I wasn’t very nervous, I thought I would be,” said Hill. “I was pretty calm.”
He was in total command of his fastball during his last start for triple-A Las Vegas on Sept. 4. Hill thought that pitch was little flat on Thursday.
“I’m hoping I’ll get right back to that my next start,” he said.
The Rangers loaded the bases against Hill with none out in the third inning. But he ended potential trouble by striking out Ian Kinsler and getting a double-play grounder from Michael Young.
He wasn’t so fortunate in the fourth, when the Rangers scored two runs — one unearned — as a result of an error by left-fielder Travis Snider.
David Murphy walked and Vladimir Guerrero singled. Snider’s error came on Nelson Cruz’s single and allowed Murphy to score, putting runners at second and third. Moreland’s sacrifice fly to centre-fielder Dewayne Wise scored Guerrero. Catcher John Buck couldn’t hold Wise’s throw to the plate.
The Rangers scored two more in the sixth. With one out, Guerrero singled and Cruz doubled. Left-hander Jesse Carlson replaced him and Moreland, hit a two-run double.