ARLINGTON, Texas - Evan Carter put the ball on the ground and watched Toronto's infield come apart.
With the bases loaded in the second Friday night at Globe Life Field, Carter's fielder's-choice grounder scored Wyatt Langford, and Jake Burger also came home when shortstop Ernie Clement's throw bounced wide of third into foul territory, the Associated Press reported. The Texas Rangers led 2-0 before the next batter swung.
They beat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-1, reached .500 for a majors-leading 23rd time, and pulled even with Houston atop the American League West after Atlanta beat the Astros 6-2.
Carter finished 0-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI credited on the play, per ESPN's box. The line looks empty until you read the scoring summary. The night's first two runs started with his bat and Clement's throw.
Catalyst, then the rest of the second
Ezequiel Duran's sacrifice fly scored Nicky Lopez for 3-0. Corey Seager doubled Carter home for 4-0. Dylan Cease (11-6) walked a season-high six among his first 15 batters and exited with two outs in the third after 38 balls and 36 strikes. Five of Texas' seven runs were unearned; Toronto walked 10 and committed three throwing errors, two by Kazuma Okamoto.
Carter also made a defensive play that ended Nathan Lukes' 13-game hitting streak - the longest active streak in the majors - running down a deep liner at the wall in right-center after Lukes had gone 0-for-2, the AP wrote. Offense and defense on the same night, even without a hit in four at-bats.
Race math at .500
Texas improved to 77-77 and sits one game behind the Chicago White Sox for the third AL wild card, though Chicago holds the tiebreaker, the AP noted. Toronto fell to 76-78, two games back in the wild-card race. The Rangers would still need to win the West outright to finish ahead of Houston on a tie.
Kumar Rocker started and worked 4 1/3 innings before Toronto's only run. Trevor Williams (2-0) threw four scoreless - two hits, no walks, four strikeouts - for the win. Carter's contribution was the spark: the grounder that became two runs when the throw sailed, then the run scored on Seager's double.
