Rangers 9, Twins 6: Going ‘llard can’t stop Texas

Jake Odorizzi has not had a good month. A six-run sixth for Texas prohibited Jake from completing even two innings, and raised his ERA all the way up to 4.97 on the year. It also lifted the Rangers to a 9-6 victory, winning them the series and putting Minnesota seven games under .500.

By the end of the night, the Twins might be as far as eight games back from the first-place Cleveland Indians. It’s been a disappointing end of the week for Minnesota, who have now lost three straight after winning sets with the Indians and Red Sox.

At this point, even .500 seems to be a far-off goal; the Twins haven’t sniffed an even record since April 22nd, when a loss to the Rays in the midst of an eight-game losing streak brought them to 8-8.

For a moment, it seemed like having both Eds back in the lineup would jump-start this team again. Eddie Rosario drove a two-run shot to right, his 17th homer of the year, in the first inning. But the comfort was very short-lived; two singles, a double, and a bases-loaded walk put a half-dozen on the board for the Rangers and excused Odorizzi from mound duty in the second inning.

The Rangers would add two more in the third on a Robinson Chirinos homer, and an extra tally for measure on Adrian Beltre’s solo homer in the fourth. It was the 58th homer of Chirinos’ career, and Beltre’s 466th.

The game really dragged today. The score held at 9-2 until the bottom of the sixth, when Logan Morrison cranked a two-run blast onto the plaza. Even though there were still three full innings left, it felt very much like a case of too little, too late for the Twins, who just don’t seem to have any fire in them right now.

Matt Magill had the roughest outing of his season in long relief, giving up a pair of homers and three earned runs, but still struck out five in just over three innings of work. Ryan Pressly, Addison Reed, Zach Duke, and Trevor Hildenberger combined for four innings and just one hit allowed — a welcome sight, as it looked like we might see Robbie Grossman or somebody take the mound this afternoon.

The Twins loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth, bringing the tying run to the on-deck circle and prompting manager Jeff Bannister to bring in closer Keone Kela. Eddie Rosario delivered the fourth straight hit in the inning, a double down the left-field line to bring noted Ed, Eduardo Escobar, up to the plate as the tying run.

Escobar, who had gone hitless in four at-bats on the day, lined a would-be double a few feet foul into left, then went down swinging on a pitch in the dirt. But Brian Dozier walked, bringing LoMo up to the plate in Ultimate Slam Territory.

But LoMo went the way of Escobar, whiffing on a buried breaking ball, and Texas locked in the victory.

The most interesting thing that happened today was that Jurickson Profar got hit by a pitch three times, which tied the MLB record, which was also matched by Profar two weeks ago.

Dick Bremer called Texas “Toronto” after calling them the Royals last night. Jack Morris quoted Dan Gladden’s Twinkie Town meme “this game is far from over” twice, verbatim. The home plate umpire’s real name was Tripp Gibson III. That about sums it up!

Tomorrow, it’s former teammates Jose Berrios and Bartolo Colon. Don’t miss it!

STUDS:

RPs Ryan Pressly, Addison Reed, Zach Duke, Trevor Hildenberger (4 IP, 1 H, 4 K)

LF Eddie Rosario (2-for-5, 2B, HR, 4 RBI)

2B Brian Dozier (0-for-2, 3 BB)

C Mitch Garver (3-for-4)

DUDS:

SP Jake Odorizzi (1.2 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 3 K)

3B Eduardo Escobar (0-for-4, K)

SS Taylor Motter (0-for-4, 2 K)

ROBOT ROLL CALL: