TORONTO - Sam Dyson against Jose Bautista with the game on the line: the perfect stage for a repeat of October's decisive Game 5 of the American League Division Series.

It just wasn't meant to be this time.

Nomar Mazara broke a tie with a solo home run and Dyson came up big in the bottom of the eighth as the Texas Rangers defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 2-1 on Monday in a rematch of last year's ALDS.

It was the first time the teams had met since the Blue Jays beat Texas last October in an emotionally-charged Game 5 at Rogers Centre.

"I was hoping for (a repeat)," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "It set up just right, too. It really did. But (Dyson's) good.

"He's an old Blue Jay farmhand. I don't know how the hell he got away, but he did. And he did his job."

The crowd of 25,323, significantly less than last October's marquee Game 5, was also much quieter — until the eighth inning when Dyson, who allowed the towering, bat-flip inducing homer to Bautista in the post-season, came in to pitch.

Chants of "DY-SON, DY-SON," rained down from the stands along with thunderous applause when the Rangers pitcher walked lead-off batter Michael Saunders. He then gave up a single to Josh Donaldson to set the table for Bautista, who anticlimactically flied out to right field.

"I'd like to face him every time. It's all about the competition," Dyson said. "He's going to win some times, I'm going to win some times. ... I just didn't want to be the goat, you know?"

Dyson followed Bautista's fly ball with a walk to Edwin Encarnacion, but escaped the inning with a 9-2 double play as Troy Tulowitzki flied out to Mazara and the Rangers right-fielder nailed Saunders at the plate.

"I've got no problem with that," Gibbons said of Saunders taking a chance with two out. "He's trying to make something happen. ... Plus two-out hits are hard to come by."

More troubling for the Blue Jays was the number of strikeouts — 10 in all, including nine from Texas starter A.J. Griffin — as they dropped their fourth straight home game.

R.A. Dickey, who pitched 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball in the no-decision, expects the hitters to come around soon.

"You're dealing with a lot of professionals in here and it's very unlikely that this trend is going to continue," Dickey said. "Rarely do you have four or five guys in the lineup not going at the same time.

"But we can all sit up here and say it's going to turn and until it does there's no guarantee. Everybody's going to have to put in the work that they know they need to do in order to turn the page."

Gibbons echoed his pitcher's sentiment, though much more curtly.

"That's old news," he said. "We keep belabouring the point. That'll get better."

Mazara sent an 87 mile-per-hour cutter from Toronto reliever Gavin Floyd over the centre-field wall in the top of the eighth to snap a 1-1 tie that had been in place for five innings.

Brett Nicholas also hit a solo homer for the Rangers (15-11), Tony Barnette (1-1) earned the win and Shawn Tolleson got the save.

Saunders drove in the lone run for the Blue Jays (12-15) while Kevin Pillar was 3 for 4. Floyd (0-2) shouldered the loss.

Ryan Goins and Tulowitzki flashed their defensive prowess in the third when they turned a highlight-reel double play. Goins made a running catch on a grounder from Mazara, then spun and threw to second while still in the air. Tulowitzki then sent a laser-like throw to first base to get Mazara and end the inning.

That seemed to spark the offence slightly as Pillar led off the bottom of the third with a double and came around to score on Saunders' base hit to tie the game.

Bad base-running cost the Rangers a run in the seventh. Floyd, with the bases loaded, got a fly-ball out from Rougned Odor and Delino DeShields tried to advance to second on the play. He was tagged out as Mitch Moreland trotted home from third base.

The run initially counted but a Blue Jays challenge showed DeShields had been called out before Moreland crossed the plate. The double play ended the inning.