ARLINGTON – The bleary-eyed Blue Jays arrived at their Arlington hotel at 5 a.m. Friday morning following a long night of travel.

But it was the Rangers who looked tired and seemed to lack focus for most of Friday's 8-5 loss to Toronto.

Texas made physical and mental errors and struggled to get clutch hits.

Even the pitching staff, which had been outstanding this season, had its difficulties. Starter Vicente Padilla allowed five runs in six innings, and Kazuo Fukumori gave up three more in the seventh.

A few late runs weren't enough to keep the Rangers from dropping to 5-5, ending the team's first 24-hour period above .500 since September 2006.

The defensive miscues were particularly glaring Friday. Texas committed three errors, bringing the season total to 12. Barring two errors from Seattle late Friday, that's the highest total in the American League.

The Rangers booted, bobbled and misplayed balls all over the field. Gerald Laird was credited with two errors, both on wide throws to second. Left fielder Frank Catalanotto allowed a runner to get to second when he bobbled a ball.

But the plays that didn't show up as errors were just as costly. Vernon Wells' double in the fourth hit off the end of Catalanotto's glove. So instead of two outs and two on, the score was tied, and Toronto added three more runs.

Ben Broussard fielded a grounder to first in the seventh, but Fukumori didn't cover the bag, so a run scored and everyone was safe. The Blue Jays eventually scored three runs in the inning.

"We have to block balls and find a way to get the outs," Broussard said. "We've got to play cleaner."

Missing for most of the season has been clutch hitting. The Rangers aren't having problems getting batters on base. The problem is getting them home.

Texas came into Friday's game 11th in the American League in batting average with runners in scoring position. The Rangers went 1-for-8 against Toronto and are hitting .205 in those situations. Texas isn't batting well with runners on base, either. The Rangers are battling the Yankees for worst in the AL in that category at .206.

Texas had runners on first and second with one out in the third, and Michael Young flied out on the first pitch. Hamilton followed with a groundout to first.

Broussard came up twice with runners in scoring position and two outs and hit a ground ball to first and popped to the catcher.

Hamilton did hit a home run – a very long one into the second deck in right field (measured at 436 feet) – in the seventh inning. Even with the homer, the Rangers were still down four.

"We will swing the bats," manager Ron Washington said. "The start of the season is a process. Sometimes it takes 80 to 100 at-bats to get in a groove."