Currently: - Game info: 7:07 pm EDT Fri Jul 29, 2005
- TV: KDFI, TSN
Trade rumors haven’t slowed down Alfonso Soriano’s bat.
The Texas Rangers hope Soriano continues his torrid hitting as they begin a three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre.
With Sunday’s trade deadline fast approaching, Soriano’s name has come up in recent trade talks around the league, but that hasn’t kept the Rangers’ All-Star second baseman from going about his business on the field.
David Dellucci hit a tiebreaking ninth-inning homer, and Soriano also connected to lead Texas past the Baltimore Orioles 2-1 on Thursday.
“We were having a little problem winning games,” Soriano said. “but now we come here and win three of four, and that’s important.”
The Rangers lead the majors with 170 homers, and Soriano has hit three in six days to give him 26 on the season, tops for among big league second baseman. He’s second on the Rangers behind fellow All-Star Mark Teixeira, who has 28 home runs.
The abundance of power hitters on Texas’ roster has made Soriano expendable if they can acquire some pitching help for the stretch run.
Before Thursday, the Rangers had allowed at least five runs in 18 of 20 games, one reason why they had failed to put together successive wins since July 8-10.
The Blue Jays could be short on pitchers Friday after using seven in Thursday’s 2-1, 18-inning victory over the Los Angeles Angels.
Orlando Hudson’s RBI single in the bottom of the 18th ended the marathon and gave Toronto a three-game sweep of the AL West-leading Angels.
“I want to go home. I want to go to sleep. I want to eat,” said Toronto’s Vernon Wells, who went 2-for-7. “It was the first for a lot of us, playing in a game that long. It was just good we came out on the winning end.”
The game took 4 hours, 50 minutes, the longest in the majors this season.
The Blue Jays have won seven of nine to leap over the struggling Baltimore Orioles into third place in the AL East, just four games behind the division-leading Boston Red Sox.
Lone Star Ball
Bluebird Banter
