Twins 5, Rangers 4: Twins win the series

Kyle Gibson had another pretty good start today. In 5 out of the 7 innings he pitched in, he only faced 3 batters. The first inning didn't start out great, as two pitches in Shin-Soo (Foo) Choo hit a solo home run. A walk and a single followed, but he got Adrian Beltre to hit into a double play, and Prince Fielder to line out to end the threat.

In the 3rd inning, Brian Dozier hit a 2 run triple, and Robbie Grossman followed that up with a single to give the Twins a 3-1 advantage.

The top of the 5th started badly for Gibson, with a Rougned Odor double backed up by an Elvis Andrus single to cut the lead to 3-2. He got the next three batters out however, limiting the damage to just one.

The Twins answered back in the bottom of the inning, though. Miguel Sano and Dozier walked, then Grossman singled to load the bases. Kepler singled to center, scoring Sano, then Eddie Rosario grounded into a force out which scored Dozier. Rosario was initially called out on a double play but review showed that he beat the relay to first.

It turned out the Twins would need that extra run. In the 7th, Gibson was near the end of his rope and almost out of the inning when Sano air mailed a throw to Joe Mauer, allowing Andrus to reach first safely. He proceeded to walk Jurickson Profar, and his day was done. Ryan Pressly was brought in, and promptly walked Mitch Moreland to load the bases for Choo. He hit a 2 run double to left field, cutting the Twins lead to 5-4. Luckily, Ian Desmond grounded out to end the inning.

The Twins bent, but did not break this day. Fernando Abad pitched a scoreless 8th, and Brandon Kintzler struggled his way to a shutout 9th to seal the victory for the Twins.  The Twins took the series against the best team in the AL.

Enjoy your 4th of July weekend, but don't blow your hands off!

Studs:

Dozier, Kepler, Santana, Grossman

Duds:

No one!

Pick the stick winner:

Daniel Carlson with 9 points (Kepler, Dozier)!  Best result would have been Dozier and Sano (10 points).

Robot Roll Call: