Stroman thumped in Texas as .500 proves elusive for Jays
Josh Donaldson scratched from lineup with left knee injury
Carlos Gomez homered twice to drive in five runs and the Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 11-4 on Thursday for a split of the four-game series.
Mike Napoli and Robinson Chirinos also homered for the Rangers off Marcus Stroman (7-4).
The Blue Jays (35-37), who beat Texas in the AL Division Series each of the past two seasons, lost for the ninth straight time when they had a chance to reach .500 for the first time this season. They have been outscored 73-24 in those nine losses.
"It's been a battle trying to get back to that .500 mark. ... It seems we get knocked around pretty good on that day," Jays manager John Gibbons said. "If it was a team that never won big games and hadn't experienced it, I'd look at it differently. We just can't seem to give over that hump yet, and we will."
Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson was a late scratch from the lineup as the DH because of left knee soreness, while left fielder Steve Pearce didn't play a day after bruising his right knee when crashing into the wall on Joey Gallo's inside-the-park home run.
Update: Donaldson has been scratched with left knee soreness. Smoak moves into the No. 3 spot. Morales hits cleanup as the DH.
—@BlueJaysGomez has five homers in his six games since returning from the disabled list last week after missing a month with a right hamstring strain. His three-run shot in the third ricocheted off the left-field foul pole and put Texas up 6-0, then he added a two-run homer in the seventh off reliever Cesar Valdez.
Texas (36-36) won for the ninth time in 13 games to get back to .500 before playing 20 of its next 26 games on the road.
Martin Perez (4-6) went six innings, and all four runs he allowed came in the fifth. The lefty gave up nine hits, at least one in each inning, with three strikeouts, two walks and a hit batter.
Adrian Beltre put the Rangers ahead to stay with an RBI double in the first, and Napoli's 14th homer was a two-run shot in the second. Chirinos made it 7-0 when he homered in the fourth.
Beltre added another double in the seventh, his 2,962nd hit, one behind Sam Crawford for 33rd all-time. He had a sacrifice fly in the eighth for his 1,587th RBI.
Stroman allowed a season-high seven runs over four innings, with five strikeouts. The right-hander has lost consecutive starts after going 6-0 in his 10 games before that.
"The long ball hurt me," Stroman said. "Just didn't have a good feel of my sinker and all of the other pitches kind of played off of that. I'll make a few adjustments."
All of Toronto's runs came with two outs in the fifth. Dwight Smith Jr. was hit by a pitch, then scored on a double by Luke Maile. Russell Martin and Kendrys Morales had RBI singles, and another run scored on an error.
