Adolis García's home run backs Cody Bradford as Rangers beat Blue Jays 2-0

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Adolis García hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning, Cody Bradford pitched seven strong innings after the worst start of his career, and the Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 on Wednesday night.

The win kept the defending World Series-champion Rangers alive in the AL West race, trailing first-place Houston by nine games with 10 to play. They are seven games back in the wild card race.

García launched an inside sinker over the left-field wall off Toronto starter Bowden Francis (8-5) after Wyatt Langford singled.

“He swings hard, he swings a lot,” Francis said of García. “I guess the velo was dropping during that time.”

Bradford (6-3) allowed five hits and no walks while striking out six.

The seven shutout innings are the most in a game during his two-year career. He was knocked out of his previous start after allowing career highs in hits (nine), runs (eight) and homers (three) in 3 2/3 innings in a 14-4 loss at Arizona.

“Throughout the week, you’ve got to try and digest what happened, see where I can make adjustments, whether it was just game plan went wrong or just poor execution, or a little bit of both,” Bradford said. “Then you flush it.”

Bradford was perfect through four innings before Alejandro Kirk opened the fifth with a smash back to the mound that caromed off Bradford’s left foot and rolled into right field for a single. It extended Kirk’s hitting streak to a career-high 12 games.

Spencer Horwitz’s double to left-center put runners on second and third with no outs before Bradford retired the next three batters.

Blue Jays manager John Schneider credited Bradford’s “deceptive fastball.”

“When you’re throwing 89, 92, you’ve got to have pretty good deception with that at this level,” Schneider said. “Kept us off balance.”

Kirby Yates pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 31st save in 32 opportunities.

Francis, who took no-hitters into the ninth inning in two of his previous four starts, allowed a double to Marcus Semien, the Rangers’ first hitter of the game. He gave up five hits and one walk in six innings.

Francis has a 1.96 ERA in nine starts with 54 strikeouts and seven walks since being moved back into the starting rotation in late July.

“I don’t even want to get complacent, on cruise control,” Francis said. “Just keep attacking.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Blue Jays: SS Bo Bichette was a late scratch with a right middle finger contusion suffered during infield practice. Schneider said the team will get back X-rays on Thursday. Bichette was activated Tuesday following a calf injury and played for the first time in two months, going 2 for 5 with one RBI at the plate. ... INF Will Wagner (left knee inflammation) will have the knee scoped on Thursday. Schneider said Wagner should be ready to start spring training. Wagner, son of former major leaguer Billy Wagner, was acquired from Houston at the trade deadline.

UP NEXT

Rangers rookie RHP Kumar Rocker (0-0, 2.25 ERA) will make his home debut against Blue Jays RHP Kevin Gausman (12-11, 4.02) in the series finale. Rocker allowed one run in four innings at Seattle last Thursday in his major league debut.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Toronto Blue Jays' Alejandro Kirk advances to third on a double by Spencer Horwitz in the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas Rangers' Marcus Semien, left, celebrates his double as Toronto Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr., right, looks on in the first inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Toronto Blue Jays' Ernie Clement fields a ground out by Texas Rangers' Marcus Semien in the fifth inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)w

Toronto Blue Jays second baseman Leo Jimenez makes a leaping catch on a line out by Texas Rangers' Jonah Heim in the second inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Bowden Francis throws to the Texas Rangers in the first inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas Rangers starting pitcher Cody Bradford throws to the Toronto Blue Jays in the fourth inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas Rangers first baseman Nathaniel Lowe (30) reaches out for the throw to the bag to complete the ground out by Toronto Blue Jays' Spencer Horwitz (48) in the second inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas Rangers right fielder Adolis Garcia settles beneath a Toronto Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. fly out in the first inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas Rangers starting pitcher Cody Bradford throws to the Toronto Blue Jays in the first inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas Rangers' Marcus Semien, left, and Adolis Garcia walk off the field after their team's win against the Toronto Blue Jays in a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

KAVUMU, Congo (AP) — Health authorities have struggled to contain outbreaks of mpox in Congo, a huge central African country where a myriad of existing problems makes stemming the spread particularly hard.

Last month, the World Health Organization declared the outbreaks in Congo and about a dozen other African countries a global health emergency. And in Congo, scientists have identified a new strain of mpox that may spread more easily. It has reached areas where conflict and the displacement of a large number of people have already put health services under pressure.

Overall, Congo has more than 21,000 of the 25,093 confirmed and suspected mpox cases in Africa this year, according to WHO's most recent count.

Yes, Congo is one of the African countries where mpox has been endemic for decades.

Mpox, once known as monkeypox, comes from the same family of viruses as smallpox but causes milder symptoms such as fever. People with more serious cases can develop skin lesions. More than 720 people in Africa have died in the latest outbreaks, mostly in Congo.

Mpox is a zoonotic disease, meaning it can spread to humans from infected animals. In the global mpox outbreak of 2022, the virus spread between people primarily through sex and close physical contact.

In September 2023, mpox spread to Congo's eastern province of South Kivu; it had previously been seen in the center and far west. Scientists then identified a new form of mpox in South Kivu that may be more infectious.

The WHO said that from the outbreak in South Kivu, the virus spread among people elsewhere in the country, arriving in neighboring province North Kivu. Those two provinces — some 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) from the capital, Kinshasa — face escalating violence, a humanitarian crisis and other issues.

More than 120 armed groups have been fighting each other and the Congolese army for years in the eastern part of the country over the control of minerals. That has forced millions of people fleeing violence into refugee camps or nearby towns.

That means mpox is hitting already-stretched health facilities. Dr. Musole Mulambamunva Robert, medical director of the Kavumu hospital in eastern Congo, said it is “truly a challenge” — sometimes treating as many as four times the facility's capacity for patients.

With more than 6 million displaced people in the east, authorities and aid agencies were already struggling to provide food and healthcare, while fighting other diseases such as cholera. Many people have no access to soap, clean water or other basics.

Some eastern Congo communities are out of reach of health clinics — roads are unreliable, and hourslong risky boat trips are sometimes the only means of transport, said Mercy Muthee Lake of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent.

People can be more susceptible to severe mpox cases because of malnutrition and undiagnosed HIV, she said.

She also said health workers in eastern Congo have requested more mpox training as medications to treat fever and ease pain run out.

Health authorities "are up against it because it’s such a complex area,” said Chris Beyrer, of Duke University’s Global Health Institute.

Africa has no capacity to produce mpox vaccines. Around 250,000 doses have arrived in Congo from the European Union and the United States, and more are expected. Congolese authorities say they need around 3 million vaccines. It will likely be weeks before any vaccines reach people in eastern Congo.

For now, the vaccine is approved only for adults. There's limited evidence of how it works in children.

Vaccines are desperately needed, but they're just “an additional tool,” said Emmanuel Lampaert, the Congo representative for Doctors Without Borders. The key, Lampaert said, is still identifying cases, isolating patients, and executing grassroots health and education campaigns.

Local conditions make that trying — Lampaert noted it's almost impossible to isolate cases among poor, displaced people.

“Families with six to eight children are living in a hut, which is maybe the space of the bed we are sleeping in,” he said. “So, this is the reality.”

Unlike the millions of dollars that poured into Congo for Ebola and COVID aid, the response to mpox has been sluggish, many critics say.

Health experts say the sharp contrast is due to a lack of both funds and international interest.

“Ebola is the most dangerous virus in the world, and COVID wiped out the world economy,” said professor Ali Bulabula, who works on infectious diseases in the medical department at Congo’s University of Kindu. “While mpox is a public health emergency of international concern, there is a lack of in-depth research and interest in the virus, as it’s still seen as a tropical disease, localized to Africa with no major impact on Western economies.”

Asadu reported from Abuja, Nigeria, and Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa. AP reporter Sam Mednick contributed from Kamituga, Congo.

For more news on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

A sex worker with mpox lies in a hospital in Kamituga, in eastern Congo's South Kivu province, which is the epicenter of the world's latest outbreak of the disease, on Sept. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

A worker carries a shovel at the hospital in Kamituga, in South Kivu province in eastern Congo on Sept. 4, 2024. South Kivu is considered the epicenter of the world's latest outbreak of mpox. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Sifa kungonja, 40, sits at home after recovering from mpox, on Sept. 4, 2024, in Kamituga, in eastern Congo's South Kivu province, which is the epicenter of the world's latest outbreak of the disease. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Emile Miango, 2, who has mpox, lies in the hospital, on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Kamituga, South Kivu province, which is the epicenter of the world’s latest outbreak of the disease in eastern Congo. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Gold miners at work in the town of Kamituga, in South Kivu province in eastern Congo, on Sept. 5, 2024. South Kivu is considered the epicenter of the world's latest outbreak of mpox. ( (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Atumisi Anaclet treats a sex worker with mpox on Sept. 4, 2024, in a hospital in Kamituga, in eastern Congo's South Kivu province, which is the epicenter of the world's latest outbreak of the disease. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)