TORONTO – Aaron Hill, Travis Snider and Vernon Wells all hit three-run home runs and the Toronto Blue Jays outslugged the Texas Rangers for a wild 16-10 win on Friday night.
The Blue Jays pounded out 15 total hits and boosted their major league lead in home runs (57) and extra-base hits (162).
Toronto reliever Josh Roenicke (1-0) worked 1 1/3 innings for his first major league win while Rangers right-hander Doug Mathis (1-1) took the loss, allowing eight runs in 1 1/3 innings.
Lyle Overbay went 3-for-3 with two walks and three RBIs for the Blue Jays, who rallied from an early 9-3 deficit.
Staked to a 3-0 lead before he even took the mound, Texas starter Rich Harden helped Toronto get back in it by walking the bases loaded on 14 pitches, then giving up an RBI grounder to Wells and a two-run double to Overbay.
Texas chased Blue Jays starter Brett Cecil with a five-run second. Max Ramirez led off with a homer, his second, Vladimir Guerrero hit an RBI single and Nelson Cruz added a three-run double.
Michael Young's infield single in the third gave Texas a 9-3 lead, but Toronto took the lead by sending 11 men to the plate and scoring eight runs in the bottom half, for their biggest inning of the season. Seven of the eight runs came with two outs.
Overbay hit a one-out solo homer, his third, and Snider sent Harden to the showers with a three-run blast to right. Fred Lewis singled off Mathis, went to second when Hill walked and scored when Adam Lind beat out a slow roller to first. Wells followed with a three-run homer to left, his 10th.
Ramirez pulled Texas to within a run with a sacrifice fly in the fourth, but Toronto padded its lead with four runs in the bottom half. Hill hit a three-run homer to left, his third, and Lind followed with a drive to center, his sixth. It's the fourth time this season the Blue Jays have hit back-to-back home runs.
Cruz came off the 15-day disabled list to drive in four runs for the Rangers and Vladimir Guerrero went 3-for-4 with three RBIs.
Alex Gonzalez made it 16-10 with an RBI double in the seventh.
Harden allowed seven runs and four hits in 2 2/3 innings and walked six, one shy of his career high.
Cecil allowed eight runs and eight hits in two innings, raising his ERA from 3.12 to 5.46.
Notes
Texas optioned 1B Ryan Garko to Triple-A Oklahoma City to make room for Cruz. … Hill returned to Toronto's lineup after missing Wednesday's game at Boston with a sore right hamstring, the same injury that sidelined him for 15 games earlier this season. … Every Blue Jays starter had at least one hit.