TORONTO _ Rangers starter A.J. Griffin surrendered a second-inning grand slam to Devon Travis and left the game with an injury one batter later as the Blue Jays held on to take the series opener, 7-6, Friday night at Rogers Centre.
Griffin allowed the slam in the second inning and left after striking out the next batter Ezequiel Carrera with a strained left intercostal muscle. Austin Bibens-Dirkx took over with one out and nobody on. Griffin left trailing 4-1 after 11/3 innings. Bibens-Dirkx pitched valiantly in emergency relief. He allowed three runs on four hits, including two solo homers, over four innings. Jeremy Jeffress replaced him with one out and two on in the sixth. The third run charged to Bibens-Dirkx scored on a wild pitch by Jeffress, which increased the Jays' lead to 7-3. Jeffress held the Jays scoreless on two hits and two walks over 21/3 innings. Matt Bush replaced him with two outs in the eighth.
Mike Napoli led off with a walk and later scored on Jared Hoying's sacrifice fly to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead in the second. Elvis Andrus led off the third with a single but was thrown out trying to score from second on Jonathan Lucroy's double down the right-field line. It appeared Andrus did not see third-base coach Tony Beasley give him a stop sign. Napoli singled to lead off the fourth and scored on Hoying's groundout to make it 4-2. Napoli singled in Andrus in the fifth to pull the Rangers to within 5-3. With two outs in the ninth, Nomar Mazara and Lucroy both reached. Lucroy hit his second double of the night before Rougned Odor belted a three-run homer to right to pull the Rangers to within 7-6. Napoli, who had two singles and a walk, represented the tying run but he struck out against Roberto Osuna to end the game.
Justin Smoak and Kendrys Morales homered for the Blue Jays.
