TORONTO -- Yu Darvish was excellent. R.A Dickey wasnt bad either. And J.P. Arencibia returned with a bang. Darvish (9-5) scattered five hits and struck out 12 over 6 2/3 innings and former Blue Jay Arencibia hit a three-run homer to help the Texas Rangers end their eight-game losing streak with a 5-1 win over Toronto on Friday night. Dickey (7-10) started strongly for the Jays but paid for a seventh-inning knuckleball that got away and was slammed into the left-field seats by Arencibia. "It just knuckled into the barrel, thankfully, because the other ones I swung and missed by a foot," said Arencibia, who struck out twice. Dickey has now lost six of his last seven starts, during which the Jays have scored a total of 11 runs. It was a matchup of two teams in a nosedive, played before 38,012 on a pleasant 22-degree night with the roof open at Rogers Centre. The Rangers (39-57), mired in the longest current losing streak in the majors, had lost 14 of their last 15 games and 22 of 25. Toronto (49-48) had dropped eight of its last 10, 11 of 15 and 17 of 25. But Darvish proved to be the tonic needed for Texas, which is now 12-6 this season when the elegant right-hander from Japan starts. Through six innings, every Blue Jays starter had struck out at least once and Texas finished with 17 strikeouts on the night. "It started on the mound," said Texas manager Ron Washington. "Yu was able to pitch around some traffic that he had on the bases and make some pitches in some key situations. He kept us in the ball game until we could get something going offensively. Despite a slump of its own, Toronto came into the game second in the AL East, four games back of Baltimore, while Texas was last in the AL West, 21 games behind the leading Athletics. Texas has a league-leading 15 players on the disabled list. The Rangers also lead the majors in players (50) and pitchers (30) used in 2014, and, with 15 rookies, is tied with Arizona for another MLB first. Like the Rangers, Toronto is missing key personnel. But manager John Gibbons wasnt making excuses. "When guys like Darvish are on, I dont care what your lineup looks like. Theyre going to cut you up pretty good. Theyre going to limit your opportunities," he said. "We had a couple tonight that we didnt cash in. We left a few guys on base (nine). Thats why hes one of the top pitchers in baseball. But I mean weve been in an offensive drought for a while now. And were due to break something out." It marked the sixth time this season that Darvish, who tied his season high for Ks, has recorded double-digit strikeouts. Toronto, which has now lost three straight games, had won eight of its last 10 against Texas since the start of 2013. The Jays offence continued to sputter, with one run on seven hits. Dickey opened strongly before faltering in the fifth when Adrian Beltre ended the knuckleballers scoreless run with a leadoff homer. Dickey had faced the minimum 12 batters in the first four innings before giving up the line-drive shot over the right-field fence on a 3-1 delivery, Beltres 14th homer of the season. Two outs later, Dickey hit Arencibia with a knuckleball that got away and second baseman Rougned Odor tripled him home to increase the lead to 2-0. Arencibia, a catcher making his MLB debut at first base, made it 5-0 with one out in the seventh when he cashed in back-to-back singles with his homer. "A big blow," said Gibbons. "I hope it gives him confidence," Washington said of Arencibia. "He certainly didnt lack it when he arrived here from the minor leagues. It was nice for him to come through right there. It was big, it was huge. Getting hit by the pitch was huge, too. He had a good night back. Its got to continue. At least he gives us some threat in that lineup." Colby Rasmus pulled one back with a leadoff homer to right field in the seventh, his 13th of the season. Darvish exited two outs later with the Jays having men on second and third after a walk and single. Left-hander Neal Cotts induced Melky Cabrera to fly out to end the inning. The Rasmus home run ended a scoreless streak of 16 innings -- and a 42-inning run without a homer for the Jays, who lead the majors in home runs. Darvish walked three and had two wild pitches, throwing 117 pitches including 69 strikes. Dickey gave up five earned runs on six hits in seven innings, striking out seven while walking two. He threw 109 pitches, 75 for strikes. "I thought Dickey was good. The three-run homer, of course, hurt," said Gibbons. "But hes been on a nice roll pitching. Were not winning his games. Were not scoring runs in his games. But take away that home run, I thought he was really good." The combined salaries of Dickey (US$12 million) and Darvish ($10 million) would nearly cover half of the CFLs salary cap hit. And they wasted little time showing why they collected such hefty paycheques. Dickey retired the first seven batters he faced before giving up a single to Odor. A pretty double play by Munenori Kawasaki ended the inning quickly, however. Darvish also kept the Jays off the bases in the early going with just two walks and two singles in the first five innings. Toronto had men on first and second with one out in the second but Darvish snuffed out the threat with two straight strikeouts. He struck out two more to end the fifth after walking Juan Francisco. Darvish did it again in the sixth, striking out two after Cabrera led off the inning with a bloop single before stealing second. Darvish had not pitched since July 9 other than an inning in Tuesdays all-star game. The six-foot-five right-hander came into the game having given up at least four earned runs in four of his last five starts. The game marked back-to-back starts for Dickey, who was on the mound for Torontos last game before the all-star break -- allowing two runs in six innings in a 3-0 loss to Tampa. He said the lack of run support was not in his mind. "No, not really. I cant control any of that. I have a hard enough time tending to my own garden. If I can just concentrate on being me and hopefully Ill get us deep into the ball game with a chance to win the game, hopefully I havent given up any runs. Thats all I can do. And thats all I try to do." Aaron Loup, Todd Redmond and Dustin McGowan followed Dickey. Closer Joakim Soria pitched the ninth for Texas, striking out two and giving up a single. Eric Gordon Rockets Jersey . When Reyes signed a US$106-million, six-year deal with Miami last month, there was speculation Ramirez was unhappy about being supplanted at short. But new manager Ozzie Guillen sold Ramirez on the idea. Steve Francis Rockets Jersey . As a follow-up, TSN.ca offers you the opportunity to chime in on all the big issues with our insiders. Read up on all the questions and answers, and put in your own two cents on our popular Your Call feature. https://www.rocketsrookiesshop.com/Hakee...Edition-Jersey/. Today, well look at five frontcourt players today, here from the Bay Area. 1. AMIR JOHNSON (Raptors): I cant figure out what the issue or problem is, but based upon what Im seeing, hes not right. DeAnthony Melton Rockets Jersey . -- Jesse Lussier scored 8:24 into overtime as the Halifax Mooseheads erased a four-goal deficit to beat the host Val-dOr Foreurs 6-5 on Tuesday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoff action. Gary Clark Rockets Jersey . - Dolphins safety Louis Delmas has been carted off the field with a right knee injury against the Ravens. NEW YORK -- Chivas USA might not play in 2015 and perhaps longer, a decision that wont be made until a new owner takes over the Major League Soccer team. "We expect to be able to close an agreement by the end of the season," MLS Commissioner Don Garber said Thursday after a news conference to launch the leagues new logo. "Once we get an ownership group in place, well sit down with them and make a decision as to whether or not were going to keep that team operating in 2015 and beyond." The league hopes to have a schedule by late fall. With the addition of New York City and Orlando, MLS will have 20 or 21 teams next year, depending on whether Chivas USA plays. Chivas USA was formed in 2004, and MLS announced in February it had assumed operation of the team from Jorge Vergara and Angelica Fuentes, who have controlled the Mexican club Chivas Guadalajara since 2002. Former Chivas USA youth coaches, Daniel Calichman and Theothoros Chronopoulos filed a discrimination lawsuit against the team in 2013, a case that was resolved without a trial. Chivas USA is last in the Western Conference at 6-16-6 and is averaging 6,942 for home games this season, less than half the figure of the team with the second-lowest average. Chivas USA shares the StubHub Center with the Los Angeles Galaxy in Carson, California, and Garber has said the new ownership group must intend to build a new stadium, perhaps at the site of the L.A. Sports Arena. Garber also said the league had fined Los Angeles Galaxy coach Bruce Arena $20,000 for criticizing MLS over the uncompleted deal to acquire American midfielder Sacha Kljestan from the Belgian club Anderlecht. During an Aug. 25 interview with The Washington Post, Arena was quoted as saying: "We had all of our ducks in a row. We were positioned to sign a player. I wont go into detail, and just say forces within the league worked real hard to make sure that didnt happen. ... because they are children and there have to be adults in the process, and we didnt have enough of them. I think we are back into the old days in the league when the rules are somewhat arbitrary." Garber said "it was a deal that did not come to the league for approval, and had it we would have not approved it." He differentiated Kljestan from goalkeeper Julio Cesar, who spent the early part of this season on loan to Toronto from Queens Park Rangers, by saying "we had certain rights in the Julio Cesar deal that we didnt have in this deal." "All of our employees, whether they are league executives or they are club executives, even going so far as to including our owners, are bound by an agreement that we will not criticize the system that our ownership is fully committed to," Garber said.dddddddddddd "It pains me to have to fine him for making comments that he obviously feels strongly about but which he is required by league rules to keep to himself." Galaxy spokesman Brendan Hannan said the team declined comment. Garber also said the league is reviewing criticism by Toronto midfielder Michael Bradley of Canadian referee David Gantar who called a foul and disallowed what would have been a go-ahead goal in the 90th minute by Gilberto in a 1-1 tie against Chicago last weekend. "That referee did not get it right in that game, and we shouldnt be ashamed of saying that," Garber said. "I feel for Toronto FC." The leagues new logo, replacing the ball-and-cleat image in use since MLS started play in 1996, has a shield with a slash that extends on the lower side in a tail and three stars representing club, country and community. It will be used starting next season in various colours to match different teams. "If you look around at all the league logos around the world, they all have a ball in it. The shield represents an identity that we think is very soccer- or football-oriented," Garber said. "We dont believe that we need to take elements of the game to tell the world or our fans that were a soccer league." The logo is part of an "MLS Next" rebrand that was announced at a venue in New Yorks Meatpacking District, an area where Garber said "many of the millennials and those that are supporters of our league live and hang out. The new logo represents our commitment to whats next." On other topics, Garber said: --He is back at work following prostate cancer surgery that was successful. --MLS hopes to volunteer for video review experiments FIFA may authorize "so that we can ensure that games are not determined by calls that in retrospect can be looked at as being wrong." However, goal line technology such as the systems used by the Premier League and FIFA "is incredibly expensive, and for the amount of times that thats an issue throughout the year, we dont believe that its an expense that should be a priority for us." --David Beckhams group continues to seek a site for a downtown stadium in Miami and is not considering the suburbs: "Right now were really focused on having a downtown stadium. Weve seen how that has worked for us in so many other markets." --New York City FC, which starts play next year at Yankee Stadium, continues "to work with the City of New York to try to find a permanent stadium solution." ' ' '