TORONTO — As usual, a visit to Canada didn’t go very well for the best team in the American League.
Edwin Encarnacion hit a three-run homer, Kelly Johnson added a two-run drive and the Toronto Blue Jays beat Texas 11-5 Wednesday afternoon, giving the Rangers consecutive losses for the first time this season.
Texas, which blew a five-run lead and lost 8-7 on Brett Lawrie’s ninth-inning homer Tuesday, has not won a series north of the border since sweeping a two-game set in April 2008.
“It looks real bad when you lose one you should have won the night before and then you’ve got to face a Ricky Romero,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “I didn’t really feel like he was at his best but we just couldn’t hold their offense down. We had to score 12 today to win.”
Romero (4-0) won for the fourth time in five starts, giving up five runs and six hits in eight innings. The left-hander walked three and struck out a season-high six.
Joel Carreno, recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas before the game, pitched the ninth for the Blue Jays.
“They flat out beat us today,” the Rangers’ Mike Napoli said. “We’ll just move on to the next. We’ll forget about it. Our team is good at that.”
Matt Harrison (3-2) allowed eight runs — tying his career high — and eight hits over 3 1-3 innings. He has given up 15 runs over 8 1-3 innings in his last two outings.
“I’ve just got to do a better job of putting guys away and not giving out free passes,” Harrison said.
The left-hander retired six of the first seven batters before getting into trouble.
“The first two innings, I thought Harry was throwing the ball well,” Washington said. “He just lost the feel for his secondary stuff and couldn’t spot his fastball. His sinker is key, he gets a lot of ground balls. Today they got a lot of balls up in the air.”
Brandon Snyder put Texas ahead in the second with his first career homer, but Johnson gave Toronto the lead in the third with his sixth homer, a two-run drive.
Then in the fourth, J.P. Arencibia hit a two-run double, Escobar tripled and Jose Bautista greeted reliever Scott Feldman with a sacrifice fly.
Texas closed in the fifth after Romero walked the bases loaded. Elvis Andrus hit a two-run double, Michael Young singled in a run and Napoli hit sacrifice fly.
Encarnacion homered off Feldman in the sixth, his ninth of the season.
“Edwin is just continuing to carry us,” Johnson said. “We needed to answer back and he answered back big right there.”
Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton missed his third straight start because of a sore back, and Adrian Beltre sat out for the second straight game. Hamilton ran on the field and hit in the cage before the game.
“I hope to have them back in that lineup (Friday),” Washington said. “They’re quite important.”
Napoli, who left Tuesday’s game with vision problems in his right eye, visited a doctor before the game and was diagnosed with an ocular migraine, or a spasm in the eye. He started at first base and reported no problems.
NOTES: Toronto flipped Johnson and Yunel Escobar in the batting order, with Johnson moving up to the leadoff spot. … The Blue Jays optioned LH Evan Crawford to Triple-A Las Vegas to make room for Carreno. … Blue Jays minor league OF Travis Snider (right wrist) has been placed on the 7-day DL with lingering soreness. … Harrison also allowed eight runs at Minnesota on July 19, 2008. … Hamilton was named AL player of the month for April and RH Yu Darvish was named AL rookie of the month. … Rangers GM Jon Daniels said minor league OF Leonys Martin will have surgery Wednesday to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb and will miss six-to-eight weeks.
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