Rangers vie to ride power surge into rematch vs. Jays

The visiting Texas Rangers are off to a good start in their four-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays, and they will aim to continue it Friday night.

The Rangers held on for a 6-5 win in the series opener Thursday after bolting to an early six-run lead on the strength of home runs by Joc Pederson, Wyatt Langford and Jake Burger.

The Rangers are 2-2 to begin a 10-game road trip. The Blue Jays have lost three consecutive contests to go 1-3 to start their 10-game homestand.

In the bigger picture for the Rangers, they welcomed shortstop Corey Seager (concussion) back from the injured list. He was 0-for-3 with two walks and a run on Thursday.

The Rangers went 4-8 during Seager's stin on the IL. He also missed 19 games May 15-June 4 with lower back inflammation.

"Frustrating is the right word, but it's good to be back and just get back out there," Seager said. "I honestly learned way too much about concussions, unfortunately."

He will be monitored.

"We'll talk to him after every game," Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. "I'm just not going to play him 10 in a row. We want to make sure he feels good after the game, make sure he feels good the next day. So it could be two on, one off. It could be one on, one off, that type of thing early on. ... I'm not going to run him out there right away every day."

Seager's return to shortstop allows the Rangers more flexibility. Ezequiel Duran, who has been used frequently at shortstop in Seager's absence, played third base on Thursday while Josh Jung was given a scheduled day off.

"Duran is very capable at third, and that is the benefit of having Corey back," Schumaker said. "It allows other guys to go back into some of their positions and their roles. It also gives other guys days off while still getting production at that position."

The Rangers are scheduled to start right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (7-7, 4.24 ERA) on Friday. He is 2-3 with a 5.36 ERA in 16 career games (15 starts) against Toronto.

Toronto is expected to start left-hander Patrick Corbin (2-3, 4.73), who pitched last season for the Rangers. He is 2-0 with a 2.57 ERA in two career starts against Texas.

The Blue Jays had hoped to pass the .500 mark during the homestand but have dipped to three games below with Thursday's defeat.

Blue Jays manager John Schneider remains optimistic despite the latest stumble.

"I really think our best baseball is in front of us," he said after Thursday's contest.

Before the game, it was announced that Blue Jays infielder Ernie Clement finished Phase 1 of the All-Star voting as the American League leader in votes at 3,232,932. That allows Clement, who is batting .294 with seven homers and 28 RBIs, to receive the starting assignment at second base for the All-Star Game on July 14 in Philadelphia.

"It's his style of play and his grittiness," said Schneider, who will manage the AL team. "He's an open book with fans. He doesn't really say no to people's requests, whether he's going good or going bad. He's a likable guy who got put on the stage in the postseason, and he's carried it over. For a guy who we picked up off the waiver wire from Oakland a few years ago, to be here right now? It's pretty cool."

Texas put infielder/outfielder Cody Freeman on the 10-day IL (herniated disc), retroactive to June 22, and released infielder Blaine Crim.

--Field Level Media