It’s been an ugly series for the Blue Jays in Texas. On Tuesday, the defence booted around the ball and Chris Bassitt was charged with seven runs (only one earned) in a 13-8 loss. On Wednesday, the bats were shut down by sophomore lefty Cody Bradford in a 2-0 loss. Now, they’ll look to avoid being swept on Thursday afternoon in the finale.
Kevin Gausman will start for the Blue Jays in this matinee. Back in July when the Blue Jays swept the visiting Rangers, Gausman threw a complete game on 118 pitches. He scattered three earned runs on four hits and three walks and struck out eight batters. The right-hander has a 4.02 ERA over 170 innings pitched for the season.
Going for the Rangers will be rookie Kumar Rocker, who’s making the second start of his Major League career. The New York Mets selected Rocker out of Vanderbilt with the tenth overall pick in the 2021 draft but didn’t sign because of concerns over his medicals. He pitched in the independent Frontier League in 2022 and was selected sixth overall in the draft by the Rangers.
The hard-throwing right-hander posted a 3.86 ERA over six starts in High-A in 2023 and improved to a 1.96 ERA between Rookie Ball, Double-A, and Triple-A in 2024. He made his big league debut against the Seattle Mariners last week and allowed one earned run over four innings of work while striking out seven batters.
Location: Globe Life Field, Arlington, Texas
First Pitch: 2:35 PM ET
Watch: Sportsnet, Bally Sports Southwest
Listen: SN590, SN APP, 105.3 The Fan, KFLC 1270
Starting Pitchers
Toronto — RHP Kevin Gausman: 12-11 record, 4.02 ERA, 170 IP, 153 SO, 52 BB.
Texas — RHP Kumar Rocker: 0-0 record, 2.25 ERA, 4 IP, 7 SO, 2 BB.
Lineups:
Blue Jays:
- TBA
Rangers:
- Marcus Semien – 2B
- Josh Smith – SS
- Wyatt Langford – LF
- Adolis Garcia – RF
- Nathaniel Lowe – 1B
- Leody Taveras – CF
- Ezequiel Duran – 3B
- Carson Kelly – C
- Jonah Heim – DH