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Choo’s 3 singles not nearly enough, Toronto forces Game 5 with 8-4 win

October 12, 2015

South Korean outfielder Choo Shin-soo hit three singles and scored twice on Monday, but they weren’t nearly enough to save his team as the Texas Rangers fell to the Toronto Blue Jays 8-4 in Game 4 of the American League Division Series.

Batting second and playing right, Choo went 3-for-4 with two runs scored. But the Rangers have allowed the Jays to tie the series at two games apiece at Globe Life Park in Arlington, after stealing the first two of the best-of-five series at Rogers Centre in Toronto.

Game 5 will move back north of the border for a 4 p.m. start Wednesday local time, or 5 a.m. Thursday in Seoul.

The Blue Jays, in the postseason for the first time since winning the World Series in 1993, are trying to become only the third team to rally to win a five-game playoff series after losing the first two legs at home. Only the 2001 New York Yankees and the 2012 San Francisco Giants have accomplished that feat.

Choo lined a single to right off Toronto’s knuckleballer R.A. Dickey in the first inning and hit another single to right in the third. He scored later in the inning on Dickey’s wild pitch.

After lining out to center off David Price, the Jays’ second pitcher, in the sixth, Choo got an infield single in the eighth. He scored the Rangers’ third run of the game on Mitch Moreland’s groundout.

Choo is now batting 4-for-17 this series, as the Rangers are trying to reach their first AL Championship Series since 2011.

The Blue Jays, which led Major League Baseball with 891 runs and 232 home runs, jumped on Texas starter Derek Holland in the first inning with two long balls: first a two-run shot by Josh Donaldson and then a solo job by Chris Colabello.

Kevin Pillar joined the party with a solo home run in the second to open up a 4-0 lead.

The Jays tagged on three more runs in the third to make it 7-0. The Rangers came to life a bit against Price, who lost Game 1 as a starter but pitched in relief of Dickey on Monday, by scoring three runs on six hits against the left-hander.

Though the Rangers have dropped the past two games at home, they will have some history on their side. Home teams are 11-15 all-time in Game 5 of Division Series.

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**Yonhap news materials were used in this article.