Rangers Beat Twins Again
The Texas Rangers beat the Minnesota Twins 7-0 on Sunday at Target Field. If the Rangers are looking for a template for success, this might be it.
Kohei Arihara gave them a gem of a start. Taylor Hearn was perfect out of the bullpen. The Rangers offense started slowly, but produced, including two home runs — one each from Marcus Semien and Nathaniel Lowe.
By game’s end, the Rangers scored six of their seven runs in the final three innings and every starter had a hit or a walk. Semien finished with two hits and three RBI, as did Brad Miller. Lowe pushed his average to .295 with a two-hit afternoon.
The Rangers (55-66) are on a two-game winning streak and left the Twins (62-57) trying to figure out what they could do offensively after failing to get a runner past second base.
Arihara (1-1) had never pitched six innings in a game at the MLB level before Sunday, but he did in his second start this season. He pitched two hitters into the seventh inning, as Rangers interim manager Tony Beasley pulled him after he gave up two singles to start the inning.
Reliever Taylor Hearn got him out of the jam, retiring the next three hitters.
Arihara gave up just four hits and struck out three while throwing just 71 pitches.
Meanwhile, Hearn was exceptional, throwing three perfect innings of relief and notching the first save of his career. Five of the nine hitters he retired struck out.
The Rangers offense was held in check until the top of the seventh. Twins starter Joe Ryan (9-6) was nearly Arihara’s equal. He gave up just two hits in the game. At one point, he struck out four of the first five Rangers he faced, and he had six strikeouts for the game. But the Rangers maximized those two hits. Semien’s solo home run in the fourth gave Texas a 1-0 lead. Adolis García’s leadoff single — one that he had to run out after he hit down the third-base line — sparked a three-run seventh.
That hit extended García’s hit streak to 18 games. García stole second while Jonah Heim was at the plate, who grounded out to second baseman Jorge Polanco. That led to the pitching change to Megill, despite the fact that Ryan had only allowed two hits.
It didn’t go well for the Twins. Megill hit Rangers center fielder Leody Taveras on the foot just after Taveras pulled back a bunt attempt. Kole Calhoun struck out, but Taveras got to second base while Miller was at the plate. Miller lined a single into center that scored both García from third and Taveras from second to push the lead to 3-0.
Texas third baseman Ezequiel Duran singled to move Miller to second, and with Semien at the plate both Miller and Duran moved 90 feet on a passed ball. Semien then singled to left field, which scored Miller and Duran, or so it looked. The Twins challenged Duran’s play, and replay overturned the call, taking a run off the board and leaving the Rangers with a 4-0 lead.
Lowe clobbered a solo home run in the top of the eighth, giving him 18 for the season and pushing the lead to 5-0. It was his 15th home run since June 1.
The Rangers added two runs in the top of the ninth on a single by Miller and a sacrifice fly by Semien.
The Rangers are finally putting their drama in the rear-view mirror. The Rangers fired team president Jon Daniels and put general manager Chris Young in charge of all baseball operations on Wednesday. The move, made by the team’s principal owner, Ray Davis, came two days after Daniels and Young fired manager Chris Woodward and elevated third-base coach Tony Beasley to interim manager.
The Rangers conclude the series on Monday as they start Cole Ragans at 6:10 p.m. central. The Rangers then move on to a two-game series with Colorado starting on Tuesday. Dane Dunning is scheduled to start on Tuesday and Pérez is set to start on Wednesday.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard
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