Rangers have 4-run 9th inning, stop 8-game losing streak with 6-2 victory over Twins
The Texas Rangers stopped their season-worst eight-game losing streak and remained tied for the AL West lead with a 6-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins, after Robbie Grossman and Leody Taveras sparked a four-run ninth inning with consecutive bases-loaded walks Saturday night.
Adolis García and Mitch Garver, who both homered, greeted reliever Griffin Jax (5-8) with back-to-back singles. Ezequiel Duran got hit in the shoulder with a one-out pitch to load the bases, before Grossman escaped an 0-2 hole by taking three straight balls, fouling one off and drawing the go-ahead walk.
Dylan Floro relieved Jax, and hit Marcus Semien with a pitch to force in another run, and Corey Seager gave the Rangers a four-run lead with a sacrifice fly.
The Rangers (73-56) stayed even with Seattle (73-56) for the division lead, one game ahead of Houston (73-58). Brock Burke (5-2) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win for Texas, which has been in first or tied for it for all but one day this season.
The Twins (67-63) remained six games ahead of Cleveland in the AL Central.
Twins closer Jhoan Durán took the eighth inning and teamed with catcher Christian Vázquez to end it on a strikeout-caught stealing double play when Vázquez threw out his second runner of the game by nabbing Semien at second base.
García gave the Rangers a brief lead in the sixth with his career-high 32nd home run, a drive to center field that he admired with a couple of confident steps before glancing toward the Twins dugout and initiating his jog around the bases.
The Rangers were irked Thursday by the way Ryan Jeffers flipped his bat in the air on the winning homer, and the two teams exchanged beanballs and cleared the benches to argue about it Friday in Minnesota's 12-2 win.
Jorge Polanco homered and Max Kepler hit an RBI double off Rangers starter Max Scherzer, who had 10 strikeouts in seven innings with two runs allowed.
The 39-year-old Scherzer has pitched as advertised for the Rangers since his month-ago arrival in a trade with the unloading Mets. The three-time Cy Young Award winner, who is 9-2 in 17 career starts against the Twins, faced them for the first time since 2014 when he was with Detroit.
RYAN RETURNS
Twins starter Joe Ryan made a smooth return after an absence of three-plus weeks to a groin strain, with seven strikeouts and one run allowed in five innings. With veteran Dallas Keuchel filling while Ryan was sidelined, the Twins are considering a six-man rotation to carry them into the final month.
Ryan gave up Garver's homer in the second, his 26th allowed this season. Grossman smashed a double into the right-field corner later in that inning, but shortstop Carlos Correa — who ran over to to take the throw from Kepler — fired a perfect relay home to Vázquez to get Duran trying to score from first base.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Rangers: RHP Nathan Eovaldi (forearm strain) will throw a bullpen session when the team is in New York next week for a three-game series against the Mets. There's been no determination yet on whether Eovaldi, who has been sidelined for a month, will be sent on a rehab assignment.
Twins: CF Michael A. Taylor was out for the second straight game as a precaution with hamstring tightness. Joey Gallo played CF in place of Taylor, who homered twice in the series opener on Thursday.
UP NEXT
Rangers: LHP Jordan Montgomery (8-10, 3.12 ERA) pitches on Sunday afternoon. He has allowed just five runs in 26 innings over four starts since his acquisition in a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals on the same day as Scherzer.
Twins: RHP Bailey Ober (6-6, 3.41 ERA) takes the mound for the series finale. He has logged only 24 innings over his previous five turns as the club tries to be careful with his career-high workload.