With one swing of the bat, Nomar Mazara took Delino DeShields off the hook and put the Rangers up for good, 2-1, over the Toronto Blue Jays. It was Mazara’s third home run and ninth RBI of the season.

Eric Nadel called it “boneheaded.”

Luckily, baseball is a team game and Delino DeShields’s teammates overcame another one of his questionable base running decisions—the second time this season DeShields’s bad baserunning has erased a run.

In the end, though, it was the outfielder in right who turned the game around.

Nomar Mazara, fresh off being named American League Rookie of the Month for April, started on his May plaque by hitting a go-ahead solo home run in the top of the eighth. Then, in the bottom of the eighth, Mazara’s cannon shot from right field nailed a Toronto runner at home to end the eighth inning.

Shawn Tolleson and Elvis Andrus saved the game in the ninth, Tolleson with his arm, Andrus with his glove.

And, in a game that alternated between frustrating and fascinating, with A.J. Griffin once again pitching brilliantly, the Rangers won 2-1 to start the seven-game road trip.

Thanks to Nomar Mazara. The opposite of boneheaded.

*****
TONIGHT’S GAME.

Martin Perez (1-2, 4.20) vs. Marco Estrada (1-2, 2.92)

Game time: 6:07 pm.

How the Rangers hit against Estrada.
How the Blue Jays hit against Perez.