ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Nick Martinez wasn’t distracted by a quick trip to the bullpen after a couple of rough starts as part of the churning bottom of the Texas rotation. The right-hander knows the drill.
Martinez allowed two hits while taking a shutout into the seventh inning, Carlos Gomez homered in a four-run first and the Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-1 on Tuesday night.
After a scoreless outing in his only relief appearance of the season against Houston, Martinez was solid in a Texas win over the Astros before beating the Blue Jays. He’s been mostly a starter in parts of four seasons, but sometimes a reliever as well.
Martinez (2-3) didn’t allow more than one baserunner in any inning, giving up one run and striking out two in 6 1/3 innings for his first win since May 19 at Detroit.
“I love that he shows up every single day with no real worry about what we’re going to ask of him,” manager Jeff Banister said. “True soldier in the sense that he wants to be here, he wants to be part of this and he’s going to take the ball and go pitch whenever we ask him to.”
Adrian Beltre had a solo homer in the eighth for his 2,960th career hit as the Rangers (35-35) got back to .500 while the Blue Jays (34-36) dropped to 0-8 this season when trying to reach the break-even mark for the first time.
Toronto beat two-time defending AL West champion Texas in a Division Series each of the past two seasons, as the AL East winner in 2015 and as a wild-card last year.
“We’ve got a good team,” left fielder Steve Pearce said. “We’ll get over the hump. It’s just a matter of time.”
Delino DeShields led off for the Rangers with a bunt single and scored on an RBI groundout by Beltre before Gomez’s seventh homer and run-scoring hits from Jonathan Lucroy and Mike Napoli. Lucroy’s hit was a misplayed double by center fielder Kevin Pillar.
Nomar Mazara homered for the second straight game, getting his 10th leading off the fifth. It was his fourth straight homer on the first pitch.
Francisco Liriano (3-3) gave up four straight two-out hits in the first, which ended when Napoli was thrown out at second trying to stretch his RBI single. The left-hander allowed seven hits and five runs in 4 2/3 innings.
Keone Kela pitched a scoreless ninth for Texas a night after closer Matt Bush gave up two ninth-inning runs in the Blue Jays’ 7-6 win.
OH SO CLOSE
With Toronto trailing 5-0 in the seventh, Pearce barely missed a grand slam with a drive just outside the left field foul pole after Martinez walked his final batter and Jose Leclerc walked his first two.
“It was a punch in the gut,” said Pearce, who twisted his body several times watching the ball in an 11-pitch at-bat that started with seven straight foul balls and ended with a called strike. “It was so close. I’d rather have it go way foul, so I wouldn’t have had that little bit of hope.”
Ryan Goins followed by ending the shutout with an RBI single before Leclerc struck out Pillar as the potential tying run.
BELTRE WATCH
The homer by the 38-year-old in his 20th season pushed him past Cal Ripken for 23rd on the career list for extra-base hits at 1,079. His 447th homer tied him with Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera with 1,585 career RBIs. Cabrera was playing later at Seattle.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Blue Jays: RHP Leonel Campos left the game with a right groin strain in the sixth. The reliever retired both hitters he faced a day after getting called up from Triple-A Buffalo when Joe Smith went on the DL with a sore right shoulder.
Rangers: INF Hanser Alberto had rotator cuff surgery Monday. He’s expected to miss the rest of the season.
UP NEXT
Blue Jays: RHP Joe Biagini (1-6, 4.26) has a five-game losing streak, including his past four starts. It will be Biagini’s ninth start after spending the first month in the bullpen.
Rangers: RHP Tyson Ross (1-0, 3.18) makes his second start since returning from offseason surgery to relieve thoracic outlet syndrome. He gave up two runs with five strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings in a 10-4 victory over Seattle in his Texas debut.
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