took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning on opening day for Toronto
before the Texas Rangers rallied for a 5-4 win Monday on Jarrod
Saltalamacchia‘s RBI single in the bottom of the ninth.
Texas scored twice in the ninth off
Blue Jays closer Jason Frasor (0-1).
Michael Young, the longest-tenured
Texas player in his 10th season, had a leadoff double before Josh
Hamilton took a called third strike. Vladimir Guerrero then had an
infield single, though second baseman Aaron Hill made a diving stab deep
behind the base to keep the tying run from scoring.
But Nelson Cruz hit an RBI double down
the right-field line and Chris Davis was intentionally walked to load
the bases. Saltalamacchia’s fly ball to right-center was well out of
reach for the drawn-in outfield.
Marcum missed last season recovering
from elbow surgery. The right-hander didn’t allow a hit until Guerrero’s
one-out single in the seventh, after walking Hamilton. Cruz, who hit 33
home runs last season, followed with a three-run homer that tied the
game at 3.
Marcum struck out six and walked one
as the first Blue Jays pitcher since 2002 other than Roy Halladay to
start the season opener. Halladay, a six-time All-Star who won an
American League Cy Young Award in his 12 seasons with Toronto, was
traded to Philadelphia over the winter.
The back-to-back hits in the seventh
were the only ones allowed by Marcum. Scott Downs took over to start the
eighth and threw a perfect inning.
Frank Francisco (1-0), the fourth
Texas pitcher, struck out two in the ninth.
In what was a home opener for him,
Vernon Wells had three hits for Toronto. He had a two-run homer in the
first and an RBI single in the eighth for a 4-3 lead. Wells, the
longest-tenured Blue Jays player beginning his 12th season, grew up in
Arlington and still lives in the area.
Wells’ go-ahead hit in the eighth
came on a 98-mph pitch thrown by Rangers reliever Neftali Feliz, the
21-year-old fireballer who remained a setup reliever after being given a
chance this spring to be in the rotation.
Scott Feldman, who started last
season as a long reliever before moving into the Rangers rotation and
winning 17 games, gave up three runs on a pair of home runs. The
27-year-old right-hander struck out three and walked none three days
after getting a new contract through 2012 worth nearly $14 million and
including a team option for 2013.
Adam Lind hit a solo homer in the
third that gave Toronto a 3-0 lead.
Lind went 3-for-3 with two runs
scored. He had a two-out single before Wells’ homer in the first, then
was intentionally walked to load the bases in the eighth before Wells
singled.
Lind, the 26-year-old designated
hitter who hit .305 last season with 35 home runs and 114 RBIs, got an
$18 million, four-year contract over the weekend that includes three
additional club-option years.
Notes
Chuck Greenberg, head of the
investment group buying the Texas Rangers from Tom Hicks, sat in the
owner’s front-row seats near the Rangers dugout. Hicks sat next to him
for some of the game. … The announced crowd was 50,299. … Andres
Blanco started at second base for Texas with Ian Kinsler on the DL.
Blanco had an error in the first inning. Kinsler, recovering from a high
right ankle sprain sustained March 12 during drills, described it as
frustrating to have to miss the season opener. He hopes to play rehab
games at Double-A Frisco later this week.