The Texas Rangers won more games than any other team in the American League this season, but after losing 10-1 at home to the Toronto Blue Jays they suddenly have their backs to the wall. Winning Game 2 of the American League Division Series just became an absolute must, and the Rangers are turning to a pitcher who was just getting hot as the regular season ended.
Right-hander Yu Darvish will take the mound for Texas against Toronto lefty J.A. Happ. Darvish was 7-5 with a 3.41 ERA this season over 17 starts, winning his last two while allowing one run and five hits with 21 strikeouts in 13.0 innings.
Happ has been great all season for the Jays, going 20-4 with a 3.18 ERA that dipped to 2.35 over his final five starts. Back in May he allowed a run on six hits in seven innings in a 12-2 win over the Rangers.
Here's Toronto's lineup for Game 2:
| 2B | Devon Travis |
| 3B | Josh Donaldson |
| 1B | Edwin Encarnacion |
| RF | Jose Bautista |
| C | Russell Martin |
| SS | Troy Tulowitzki |
| DH | Michael Saunders |
| CF | Kevin Pillar |
| LF | Ezequiel Carrera |
| P | J.A. Happ |
Texas will go with this for its starting lineup:
| LF | Carlos Gomez |
| CF | Ian Desmond |
| DH | Carlos Beltran |
| 3B | Adrian Beltre |
| 2B | Rougned Odor |
| C | Jonathan Lucroy |
| 1B | Ryan Rua |
| SS | Elvis Andrus |
| RF | Nomar Mazara |
| P | Yu Darvish |
The first pitch is scheduled for just after 1 p.m. ET and the game will be shown live on TBS, but stick with Bleacher Report for real-time updates, analysis, statistics, pictures, tweets and everything else worth noting from Game 2 in Arlington, Texas.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
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