Vernon Wells and Aaron Hill each went deep for a second straight day as the Toronto Blue Jays opened their series with the Texas Rangers on Monday afternoon with a 7-2 home win.

Wells drove in three runs and opened the scoring by sprinting from third on a wild pitch. The centre-fielder and Hill both went over the left-field wall in the fifth, after also hitting home runs in a 7-3 road victory Sunday over the New York Yankees.

Yunel Escobar padded the lead in the seventh on Monday with a solo shot, the 32nd time this season Toronto has hit three or more in a game.

"The only way you're going to have a chance against these guys is you've got to keep the ball in the ballpark," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "They got seven and six came via the long ball."

Ricky Romero (12-8) didn't have an efficient outing, but got outs when he needed them in a seven-inning effort. The left-hander allowed seven hits and two walks, striking out two.

"It's been fun to play behind Ricky," Wells said. "He challenges everybody, he throws strikes, he's been able to have command of some nasty stuff. His ball moves all over the place and he's been able to harness it. He's learning how to pitch in the toughest division in baseball and it's been fun to watch him grow."

Shaun Camp and Brian Tallet each added an inning of relief for the Blue Jays (71-66).

Big Tommy Hunter (12-3) lost for the first time in four starts for the visitors, giving up all of Toronto's home runs in seven innings of work.

Wells made it 1-0 on a play that could have ended the second inning.

Toronto catcher John Buck swung in vain at a wild Hunter pitch that dropped rapidly, and catcher Taylor Teagarden wasn't able to corral the ball. Teagarden compounded the situation when he retrieved the ball by attempting a forced throw to the plate, even though there was no chance to get Wells in time.

Washington seemed more disappointed in his catcher than pitcher.

"The right play is at first base," Washington said. "You've got Buck up there swinging and missing, the ball's not too far away, [Buck] can't run, it's the third out. You take the easy one."

Rangers strand runners

Vladimir Guerrero had three hits and scored the lone run for Texas (75-62), but otherwise the Rangers stranded baserunners all day. The team is without slugger Josh Hamilton due to a rib injury.

Romero allowed two singles in the first inning but Jeff Francouer's long drive to left was 10 feet short of going over the wall, caught by Travis Snider. Romero walked a pair in the third but induced Nelson Cruz into an inning-ending double play.

"Last September, at times I was so upset with walks and all that stuff and right now, I don't think I'm letting that affect me," said the second-year Romero. "If I walk a guy, I'm kind of, 'Get a groundball here and get out of the inning.'

"That was an example of today, when I walked two guys and got Cruz to ground into that double play. The confidence is way up there, knowing that I'm going to grind out seven, eight innings whenever I can."

After DeWayne Wise led off with a single in the third, Hunter paid the price for nibbling against the potent Jose Bautista. He walked the Toronto slugger, but Wells proceeded to deposit a pitch into the left-field bullpen for a 4-0 score.

Francouer then lost Lyle Overbay's volley in the lights, and with the first baseman standing on second, Hill launched his 23rd homer.

Fan injured

Romero took a hard grounder off his foot in the fifth, but was able to shake it off and remain in the game.

He gave up two base hits in his final inning, but Teagarden wasn't fast enough to score from second on a Michael Young single to right. Cruz again couldn't help his teammates, flying out to end the inning.

Texas added a meaningless run off Tallet in the ninth, with Wells fittingly ending the contest attended by just under 18,000 by sprinting to reach a short fly to centre.

The four-game series resumes Tuesday night, with Shaun Marcum set to take the mound for Toronto and Texas hurler Scott Feldman scheduled to return from the disabled list.

In other news, in the bottom of the seventh of Monday's game, a Bautista foul ball knocked loose the letter B from the Jackie Robinson nameplate on the stadium facade behind home plate. It dropped about 10 metres from the 400 level facing and struck a fan in the 200 level, who suffered a minor injury.