Texas Rangers Pitcher Dane Dunning Calls Twins' Ryan Jeffers 'Idiotic'

Dane Dunning hit Ryan Jeffers on Friday night, which eventually led to the benches clearing between the Texas Rangers and Minnesota Twins.

Mitch Garver didn’t take too kindly to getting plunked by Sonny Gray early in the Texas Rangers’ 12-2 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Friday night.

Neither did Garver’s teammates, who flooded out of the dugout and bullpen in a bench-clearing scene at Target Field.

But what bothered Garver and the Rangers most was the build up to the former Twins catcher getting hit. An inning earlier, Texas starter Dane Dunning hit Ryan Jeffers with runners at the corners. Jeffers stared down Dunning, who turned his back, with Garver acting as peacemaker.

Garver spent the first five years of his career with Minnesota. Jeffers has since taken over as the Twins main catcher.

“It all started with their guy getting hit, the way he reacted,” Garver said of Jeffers. “First and third, we’re not trying to hit somebody intentionally to load the bases for Joey Gallo.

“We don’t care what happened [Thursday] night. This wasn’t about you. And just the way he reacted kind of set the stage for it. C’mon, anybody who’s watched a baseball game or two knows what’s going here.”

Jeffers hit a tiebreaking home run in eighth in Minnesota’s 7-5 win Thursday night.

Dunning maintained that he didn’t purposefully hit Jeffers, pointing to his six walks as proof.

“I had no idea where the ball was going,” Dunning said. “There was no intention to hit him. I think it’s a little idiotic that he reacted the way he did and then coming back and retaliating.”

Garver took the retaliation in the fourth from Gray.

The Rangers, mired in an eight-game losing streak, and Twins play the third game of series Saturday at 6:15 p.m. Max Scherzer (12-5, 3.77) is on the mound for Texas, while Minnesota counters with Joe Ryan (9-8, 4.43).

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