TORONTO _ One game isn't going to erase what was mostly 10 days of offensive futility but the Texas Rangers will take what they can get at the moment.
The Rangers closed out their nine-game road trip by doing what they had struggled to do for most of the trip: They had success with runners in scoring position.
Texas held off a Toronto Blue Jays sweep by taking the finale 7-3 at Rogers Centre Wednesday afternoon. The Rangers won the first and last games and went 3-6 on the trip.
The Rangers open a four-game series against the Minnesota Twins Thursday at Globe Life Park.
Rookie left-hander Kolby Allard impressed again. In his second start for the Rangers (and third of his career), Allard again left with the lead. Texas was leading when Emmanuel Clase took over for Allard with two on and two outs in the sixth inning. A wild pitch and single allowed two runs but Allard earned the win, his first for the Rangers.
He was charged with three runs on four hits and three walks and had five strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.
The offense, which started the day 2 for its last 40 with runners in scoring position, was 4 for 12 on Wednesday, including Delino DeShields' run-scoring single in the second that gave Texas a 1-0 lead. Danny Santana's two-run double and Elvis Andrus' run-scoring single pushed the lead to 4-0. Andrus was 4 for 5 with a double and two RBIs.
The Rangers, who had relied on home runs to score most of their runs the past week, added two more. Nomar Mazara homered in the seventh and Danny Santana homered in the eighth to give Texas a four-run lead.
The Rangers had at least 10 hits for the first time since Aug. 2, a string of 11 games. Their seven runs are equal to the total runs scored in their previous four games combined.
