Robbie Grossman hit a home run and the Texas Rangers defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 6-3 on Tuesday night.
The Rangers (80-64) extended their winning streak to four and overtook the Blue Jays (80-65) in the ranking of American drafted teams.
The Texas team took second place and made sure to hold the tiebreaker against the Torontonians if the two teams finished the campaign with the same record.
The Rangers, however, lost the services of ace pitcher Max Scherzer, who went scoreless for five innings before leaving the game with an arm muscle spasm.
The Blue Jays’ lead ahead of the Seattle Mariners in the rankings of drafted teams has slipped to half a game. The Mariners face the Los Angeles Angels later Tuesday.
The Blue Jays managed just three hits off Scherzer before the veteran right-hander left the mound after his 73rd pitch of the night.
Scherzer was replaced by Jose Leclerc, who was removed from the game in the seventh inning after allowing a double to Spencer Horwitz and a sacrifice to Davis Schneider.
Cavan Biggio welcomed left-hander Brock Burke with a run-scoring single that put the home team on the scoreboard.
Santiago Espinal followed with a hit to left-center field, but he was called out while attempting to stretch his single into a double. The Blue Jays contested the call and Espinal was ultimately declared safe.
Ernie Clement hit a weak grounder that pushed Biggio to the plate and Espinal to third base. Alejandro Kirk, Toronto’s third consecutive batter, was grounded out to end the inning.
Schneider hit a solo homer in the ninth inning off Aroldis Chapman. It was his eighth long ball of the season.
Blue Jays starter Hyun Jin Ryu (3-3) allowed three earned runs, five hits and one walk in six innings of work.
Scherzer (13-6) still recorded the victory for the Rangers.
The Blue Jays began their 10-game homestand by sweeping a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals. After this four-game series against the Rangers, the Blue Jays will host the Boston Red Sox over the weekend.
Corey Seager’s single in the fourth inning allowed him to reach the milestone of 1,000 career hits in the Majors. He came to score on Grossman’s ninth homer of the campaign.
Seager touched home plate again, in the sixth inning, after hitting a double. He was pushed to the plate by Jonah Heim’s sacrifice. The Rangers added two runs in the seventh.
Blue Jays reliever Erik Swanson was scoreless in the eighth inning in his first appearance since coming off the injured list earlier in the day.
The Rangers got an insurance run in the ninth inning, off reliever Trevor Richards.