Tyler Skaggs‘ No. 45 jersey still hung prominently over his

ARLINGTON http://www.bluejaysfanproshop.com/authentic-curtis-granderson-jersey , Texas (AP) —locker in the visiting clubhouse after the Los Angeles Angels wrapped up their first series since the 27-year-old pitcher’s death.While the grieving Angels lost 9-3 in the finale against the Rangers in the Fourth of July game that Skaggs had been scheduled to start, Los Angeles took the first two games during the series after he was found unresponsive in his hotel room in Texas.“Taking two out of three from a pretty good team that’s second in the division, under the circumstances, I think is a victory,” catcher Jonathan Lucroy said.Article continues below ...“It’s been really tough, yet the guys haven’t made any excuses,” he said. “We’ve gone out there and played hard, played to win. That’s what Skaggsy would have wanted, and I don’t think he would have liked it too much if we’re in here feeling sorry for ourselves about it.”Lance Lynn worked seven innings to match the major league lead with his 11th win, and Rougned Odor homered twice to drive in five runs for the Rangers, who snapped a four-game losing streak.Mike Trout hit another impressive homer for Los Angeles in the first inning, his AL best-tying 25th. But Lynn (11-4) limited the Angels to only one more run while striking out five without a walk over his 115 pitches.“There’s no manual for how you handle something like this. I think the games do provide a space for (players) because they’re trained to focus on just their job, and not be reminded of Tyler’s passing,” Angels manager Brad Ausmus said. “You look at it from a baseball perspective, we were able to win two out of three on the road against a team that’s in front of us in the standings. But it certainly wasn’t easy.”An emotional trip for the Angels that began with them traveling to Texas in cowboy hats and Western attire — a theme initiated by Skaggs — now takes them to Houston for three games this weekend against the Astros before the All-Star break.The Rangers went ahead to stay on Nomar Mazara’s two-run double in the third that made it 3-2. Mazara finished with four hits.Odor hit a two-run homer in the fourth, snapping his streak of four consecutive strikeouts and seven Ks in his previous eight at-bats. His three-run shot to center in the seventh was estimated at 471 feet.All that offense was plenty for Lynn, the first Texas right-hander since 1998 to have 11 wins before the All-Star break. He has gone at least six innings in 13 consecutive starts, the longest stretch for a Rangers pitcher since 2013, and has won his last five decisions.“He’s so reliable. You know he’ll go deep in the game, you know he’s going to compete on every pitch Marcus Stroman Jersey ,” Texas manager Chris Woodward said. “That’s fun to watch. It’s been a huge factor for us being in the position we’re in now.”Angels rookie right-hander Griffin Canning (3-5) struck out six, but walked three and allowed six runs over 3 1/3 innings.Trout’s homer was his third in two games, and ninth this year against Texas to match an Angels record for the most against another team in the same season. The estimated 445-foot laser ricocheted off the glass facade of a club beyond the first deck of seats in left field.Vladimir Guerrero had nine homers for the Angels against Seattle in 2001, and Tim Salmon hit nine against Cleveland in 1998.The Angels still play their AL West rival six more times this season. That includes a doubleheader when they return to Texas for another series Aug. 19-21, though it hasn’t been announced on which of those days there will be two games.CLEVELAND ON CRUTCHESAngels second baseman Tommy La Stella will go to next week’s All-Star Game in Cleveland on crutches and in a cast. The first-time All-Star is out 8-10 weeks after he broke his right tibia when he fouled a 97-mph fastball off his lower leg on Tuesday. Ausmus, a one-time All-Star as a player, helped convince La Stella that “he deserved it, he earned it” even though he can’t play. “I think he’d regret it if he didn’t go experience,” Ausmus said.TRAINER’S ROOMAngels: OF Justin Upton didn’t play after leaving Wednesday night’s game with left quad tightness. … INF Zack Cozart, out since May 27, saw Rangers team physician Dr. Keith Meister for a second opinion on his left shoulder. Cozart will get a new MRI in California on Friday. He played only 58 games in 2018 before surgery on a torn labrum.UP NEXTAngels: The Angels face another 10-game winner (Justin Verlander) in the opener of a three-game series at Houston.Rangers: RHP Adrian Sampson, 6-2 in his last nine games, starts the opener of a weekend series at Minnesota on Friday night. The way Tampa Bay’s Joey Wendle sees it, it’s really quite simple.“We’re having fun. We’re playing relaxed,” Wendle told a television audience after the Rays won their seventh game in a row — a 5-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Saturday night at The Trop.With the series already won, the Rays, eight games above .500 for the first time this season, send ace Blake Snell to the mound to face former teammate Nathan Eovaldi in Sunday’s series finale.Article continues below ...“We’re playing just good fun baseball, fundamentally sound,” Wendle said. “Our pitching staff just night after night Devon Travis Jersey , it’s just been unbelievable.“It seems like offensively we contribute one through nine — somebody’s coming up with the big hit every night.”And now, as Wendle and manager Kevin Cash talking about newfound confidence, they turn to Snell, who is 3-0 in August after coming off the disabled list, 7-1 in his last eight starts and 15-5 with a 2.07 ERA this season. He has also handled the first-place Red Sox to the tune of 2-0 with an 0.95 ERA in three starts.Last weekend at Fenway Park, the Red Sox missed Snell, who pitched the finale of the series against the Yankees in the Bronx. The Red Sox won the first two games of that weekend series. The Rays won Sunday, ripped off four straight over the lowly Kansas City Royals and topped the Red Sox twice — by a combined count of 15-4.The club record for consecutive wins is 12 in 2004.“Our pitching … we’ve been on a nice little run here and it’s been outstanding,” Cash said. ” … Any time you go up against that team, that lineup, and you limit them offensively, you’re doing a lot of things correctly.”The Red Sox, who saw their lead over the Yankees shrink to seven games (six in the loss column), have not been swept in a series all season. They have lost five of their last seven games. They have lost a series for the first time in their last 15.“They’ve been throwing the ball well for a while,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of the Rays. “They throw the ball WELL here … we’re competing, but that’s good stuff over there. They have a lot to do with it.“Tomorrow, hey, we’ve got our hands full. He’s the guy … he’s been great against us. We’ll see how we react to it. We’ll go out there and compete. We’ve been good on getaway days and day games — you guys know all the stats — so it would be a good day to put everything together and finish this series and strong and turn the page on this stadium (for the year).”Eovaldi, acquired from the Rays in the deal that sent Jalen Beeks, winner of two of the Boston games in long relief Roy Halladay Jersey , to St. Petersburg, started his Red Sox career with two scoreless outings but has had two bad starts of the last three. Overall, he is 5-5 with a 3.81 ERA this season.Eovaldi has never faced the Rays, but Carlos Gomez is 4-for-11 (.364) against him. Kevin Kiermaier, the only other Tampa player to face the right-hander, is 1-for-6 (.167), but the hit is a home run.Tampa Bay’s Tommy Pham returned after suffering a dislocated finger earlier in the week and hit a home run in the win.Besides Sandy Leon, who is 6-for-10 (.600), the Red Sox have some ugly numbers against Snell in his young career. Mitch Moreland, who returned to the lineup Saturday after missing almost two full games with a knee bruise, is 0-for-12, Eduardo Nunez is 0-for-7, Jackie Bradley Jr. 1-for-11 (.091), Xander Bogaerts 2-for-15 (.133), J.D. Martinez 1-for-7 (.143) and Steve Pearce 2-for-9 (.222) against the left-hander.Martinez, who has flirted with the triple crown through much of the season, passed teammate Mookie Betts in batting average Saturday night — his two hits leaving him at .337. Betts fell to .335 with an 0-for-4.