Blue Jays' Tallet dominates Rangers

Lefty Brian Tallet came up with one of his best starts of the season Tuesday, pacing his Toronto Blue Jays to a 9-0 road victory over the American League West division-leading Texas Rangers.

Tallet surrendered only two hits over seven innings and confounded the high-powered Rangers offence all night. His relief kept the two-hit shutout intact.

The Toronto offence helped Tallet by giving the 31-year-old a four-run lead in the second inning.

"Without a doubt, getting four runs in the second inning was big." Tallet said. "After that you can say, 'Here it is.' Let them hit and let your defence do the work. Then they just kept tacking on the runs. By the seventh inning, I was on cruise control."

Jays left-fielder Adam Lind went 2-for-5 with two runs batted in and hit another home run, his third in two games.

Toronto third baseman Scott Rolen went 3-for-4, scoring two runs and adding an RBI. Rolen is 6-for-8 in the first two games of the series against the Rangers.

Vernon Wells was 2-for-5, hitting a double and triple while scoring a pair of runs for the Jays.

Toronto's Lyle Overbay extended his hitting streak to 15 games and Aaron Hill also hit a home run in the win.

Overall, Toronto had 12 hits and was 5-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

"If you have to depend on one or two guys every night to hit, it's tough," Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston said. "It was a team win."

Another solid performance

Tallet clocked in with another solid performance on the mound for the Jays. He kept the Texas batters guessing by mixing up his fastball and change-up at just the right times throughout the contest. He walked only two and struck out three batters on the way to the win.

"He pitched a great game," Gaston said. "To hold that team down without a score is really good."

And Tallet has been consistent, too, allowing three runs or less while going at least six innings in six of his last seven starts.

It's the Jays' fifth shutout of the season.

Texas starter Doug Mathis (0-1) didn't have a good game and looked like he was struggling with his control. He gave up five runs, seven hits and three walks over five innings of work.

"I didn't help myself," said Mathis. "I fell behind too many guys. I can't blame anyone else for that."

With Toronto's (34-27) win and a Boston victory over New York, things have tightened up in the AL East. The Blue Jays now trail the Red Sox and Yankees by only 1½ games for the division lead.

Texas (33-25) has dropped three straight games at home and six of its last nine overall.

Better start to this road trip

After losing nine straight on their last road trip, Toronto is a perfect 2-0 so far on this swing and has held one of the AL's top offences to three runs in two games.

The Blue Jays broke the game open early, jumping on Ranger mistakes in the second inning.

Wells hit a triple to start things off for Toronto and Lind drove him in with a groundout.

Mathis began to struggle with his location, as he walked Rolen on four straight pitches and then sent Overbay to first thanks to another base on balls.

Toronto's bats picked up on Mathis's miscues. Designated hitter Kevin Millar sent a fastball to left field for a single, driving in Rolen to make it 2-0 Blue Jays.

Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus had a chance to end the inning when Jays catcher Rod Barajas served up a perfect double play ball. But Andrus bobbled it, loading the bases for Marco Scutaro.

The Toronto shortstop promptly sent two more Jays runners home, driving in Overbay and Millar with a double.

Andrus now leads the AL in errors by a shortstop (nine).

In all, Toronto scored four runs on just three hits in the second.

Tallet squeezed out of some trouble of his own in the bottom half of the inning, striking out catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia with runners on first and second to keep Texas scoreless through two.

Lind strikes again

Toronto's Lind hit his career-high 12th home run of the season in the fifth, sending a Mathis fastball deep to left field for a solo shot.

Texas right-hander Guillermo Moscoso came in to relieve Mathis in the sixth.

As Tallet hummed along, Toronto added a couple more runs in the seventh.

Wells scored again when Rolen hit a double with one out. With Rolen on third after a wild pitch, Overbay hit a line drive to right field to send him home, putting the Blue Jays up 7-0.

Hill made it 9-0 Toronto when he took a 2-2 Moscoso offering over the left field wall for a two-run home run, his 14th of the season.

Blue Jays right-hander Dirk Hayhurst took over for Tallet in the eighth and B.J. Ryan pitched the ninth, and both held Texas hitless. Overall the three Toronto pitchers combined to retire the final 14 Ranger hitters.

"It was a frustrating night," said Texas designated hitter Andruw Jones, who was 0-for-4. "The balls were disappearing. [Tallet] pitched like Tom Glavine."

The Blue Jays have at least earned a series split against the Rangers and will send Ricky Romero (3-2) against Texas right-hander Kevin Millwood (5-4) in the third game of the set on Wednesday.

But it wasn't all good news for Toronto on Tuesday, as the team found out earlier in the day that starting pitcher Jesse Litsch needs Tommy John surgery on his right elbow and will miss the rest of the season.