Texas Rangers

Rangers' rough road trip ends Sunday against Jays (May 28, 2017)

Published May. 27, 2017 9:24 p.m. ET

TORONTO -- The Texas Rangers will be happy to get home after they play the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon in the finale of a three-game series at the Rogers Centre.

The road has not been kind to Texas. After losing 3-1 to the Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon, the Rangers dropped to 8-18 on the road this season.

After winning two of three from the Detroit Tigers to begin a nine-game trip, the Rangers have lost five straight, their longest losing streak of the season.

After the game Sunday, they will open a three-game series at home against the Tampa Bay Rays.

"We've been challenged in a lot of areas," Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. "We've got to get better, obviously, we've got to put some things together.

"When you're challenged, it doesn't feel good, it doesn't look good. Mistakes are accentuated. When you're incapable of capitalizing on some run-scoring opportunities, those get accentuated.

"We haven't been perfect, we've made some mistakes, but we've got to continue to play the game, find a way to put some runs on the board."

The Rangers (24-26) will start Andrew Cashner (1-4, 3.18 ERA), who has made 18 consecutive road starts without a win, the longest active streak in the among major-league starters.

Cashner will be trying to win on the road for the first time since Sept. 16, 2015, at Arizona when he opposes Toronto's Joe Biagini (1-2, 3.75 ERA), who will be making his fifth career major-league start.

The Rangers are 1-6 since their 10-game winning streak, the longest in the majors this season.

The Blue Jays (23-26) appear to be going in the opposite direction. They have matched their season-best five-game winning streak after beating Texas on Saturday. After going 8-17 in April, they are 15-9 in May.

Toronto also has third baseman Josh Donaldson and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki back from injury. Both played Friday but were given a planned day off Saturday. Both are expected in the lineup on Sunday.

"We're playing better baseball in the month of May," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "April wasn't a good month, you can't sugarcoat that.

"We always felt confident with the guys we had in here, and the guys who stepped up when we had injuries. Lots of things have started to fall for us.

"We weren't getting that big hit before, we weren't getting that big break. Now we're getting home runs and it looks like our old team."

The Blue Jays have hit home runs in six consecutive games, a total of 12, including a three-run homer Saturday in the fifth inning by Jose Bautista that proved to be the difference. The team has homered in 15 of its past 16 games.

Biagini has faced the Rangers twice in the regular season and is 1-0 against them, allowing three hits but no runs in 3 1/3 innings. He did not factor in the decision Tuesday in the Blue Jays' 4-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. He allowed five hits, three walks and three runs in 4 1/3 innings.

Biagini is 1-1 with a 4.15 ERA in his four career major-league starts, all of them in May. The Blue Jays are 3-1 in his starts.

Cashner has made one career start against the Blue Jays, a no-decision when he was with the San Diego Padres and allowed three earned runs in six innings at the Rogers Centre. He gave up home runs to Donaldson and Justin Smoak.

Cashner is 0-3 with a 4.43 ERA in four starts on the road this season. He has gone 0-9 with a 6.91 ERA in his past 18 road starts, including a loss Tuesday to the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. In that game, he gave up six hits, four walks and five runs in five innings.