TORONTO (Interstat) — MacKenzie Gore pitched seven strong innings, Wyatt Langford delivered a three-run homer and the Texas Rangers held off a late Toronto Blue Jays rally for a 6-5 victory Thursday night at Rogers Centre.

Gore allowed three earned runs on four hits while striking out five over seven innings. He improved to 5-6 on the season. Jacob Latz earned his 14th save despite allowing two runs in the ninth inning, striking out two. Kevin Gausman took the loss, his fourth against six wins, after giving up six runs on 10 hits over six innings with four strikeouts.

Texas struck first in the opening inning when Joc Pederson hit his 12th home run of the season, a solo shot to right field. The Rangers added five runs in the third inning to seize a 6-0 lead. Nicky Lopez singled and Pederson followed with a single to put runners on first and second. Langford then crushed his eighth homer to left-center, scoring Lopez and Pederson. After Corey Seager walked, Jake Burger hit his 14th homer to left field, a two-run shot that scored Seager.

Toronto answered in the fifth inning. Kazuma Okamoto singled and Alejandro Kirk singled to put two runners on. Nathan Lukes walked to load the bases. Davis Schneider’s sacrifice fly to center scored Okamoto. Myles Straw then doubled to left, driving in Kirk and Lukes and cutting the deficit to 6-3.

The Blue Jays mounted a final threat in the ninth inning. Ernie Clement singled to left. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. struck out swinging. Okamoto then hit his 18th home run to center field, scoring Clement and making it 6-5. Latz induced a soft groundout from Kirk and struck out Brandon Valenzuela to end the game.

The attendance was 35,273. The game lasted 2 hours, 33 minutes.

Gore’s outing continued a recent run of quality starts. He pitched six innings and allowed one earned run against San Diego on June 20 in a loss, and seven innings with four earned runs against Minnesota on June 15 in another loss. The Rangers gave Gore early run support Thursday, a welcome change for a team that had lost two straight at Miami before arriving in Toronto.

Texas had dropped the first two games of its series at Miami, 4-2 and 6-4, before winning the finale 4-3 on Monday. The Rangers then swept a three-game home set against San Diego from June 19-21, winning 9-7, losing 6-4 in 10 innings, and winning 4-3. Before that, Texas lost three of four at home to Minnesota from June 15-18, with a 9-3 loss, a 12-2 loss and a 4-2 loss. A road trip to Boston from June 12-14 produced a 10-1 loss, a 6-3 loss and a 6-4 win. The Rangers also took two of three at Kansas City from June 9-11, beating the Royals 2-0, 6-4 and losing 5-3. Texas swept Cleveland at home June 5-7 with a 3-2 win, a 6-0 loss and a 10-0 win. The Rangers split a series at St. Louis from June 1-3, losing 5-3, winning 7-4 and winning 2-1. They swept Kansas City at home May 29-31 with wins of 6-3, 7-6 and 9-1. Texas lost three of four to Houston from May 25-28, including a 5-1 loss, a 4-3 loss, a 10-7 win and a 9-0 loss. A road trip to the Los Angeles Angels from May 23-24 produced losses of 2-1 and 5-2.

Toronto entered the game having lost two straight to Houston. The Astros won 3-1 on Wednesday and 9-7 in 11 innings on Tuesday, while the Blue Jays took the series opener 4-2 on Monday. Toronto had won three of four on a road trip to Chicago and Boston from June 16-20, beating the Cubs 8-6, losing to the Cubs 16-2, then sweeping the Red Sox with wins of 4-3, 3-0 and 6-1. The Blue Jays then dropped two of three at home to the New York Yankees from June 12-14, losing 8-3, losing 3-1 and winning 8-5. Toronto lost two of three to Philadelphia from June 8-10, with a 7-4 loss, a 3-2 win and a 5-2 loss. The Blue Jays took two of three from Baltimore at home June 5-7, winning 6-4, losing 13-3 and winning 6-4. Toronto split a two-game set at Atlanta from June 2-4, winning 7-2 and losing 7-3 and 4-3. The Blue Jays dropped three of five at Baltimore from May 28-31, with a 9-5 loss, a 6-5 loss, a 6-5 win, a 2-1 win and a 1-2 loss. Toronto swept Miami at home May 25-27 with wins of 2-1, 8-1 and 8-2, then split a three-game set with Pittsburgh from May 22-24, winning 5-2, losing 4-1 and winning 6-2.

Key individual performances included Pederson going 2 for 3 with a home run and one RBI. Burger finished 2 for 4 with a homer and two RBI. Langford was 1 for 5 with a homer and three RBI. For Toronto, Okamoto went 2 for 4 with a homer and two RBI. Straw was 1 for 2 with two RBI. Simeon Woods Richardson threw three scoreless innings in relief, allowing no hits and striking out one. Jakob Junis pitched a scoreless eighth for Texas, striking out one.

The top star for Texas was Gore, whose seven-inning effort set the tone after Texas’s five-run third gave him a comfortable lead. The Rangers’ bullpen held Toronto to two runs over the final two innings, with Junis retiring the side in order in the eighth and Latz surviving a dramatic ninth.

Texas and Toronto both stand at 39-42 after the game. The teams continue their three-game series Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Rogers Centre. Texas then travels to Cleveland for three games starting Monday, followed by a six-game homestand against Detroit and the Los Angeles Angels. Toronto hosts the New York Mets for three games beginning Monday, then embarks on a road trip to Seattle and San Francisco.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Toronto 6, Texas 4. Interstat’s ELO system gave Toronto a 57.80 percent probability to win. Toronto was installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus 1.5. The total score of 11 went under the over/under line of 7.5.