Rangers 7, Twins 4: Everything’s bigger, even the homers

Home runs.

Honestly, I could end the recap right there, and you would get the gist, because nothing else really happened tonight. Let’s start with the non-homers: a wild pitch and two singles plated runs for the Twins, while a pickoff throwing error plated one for the Rangers.

Everything else left the yard.

Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images

With the score 1-0 in the second, Jake Cave doubled the Twins’ lead by homering to right. But Nomar Mazara would hit a solo shot in the bottom half, and Ronald Guzman drove a three-run shot in the same inning to quickly make it 4-2 Texas.

Beloved veteran Adrian Beltre homered in the fourth to make it 5-2. This would encourage Paul Molitor to abridge Jose Berrios’ outing, as our staff ace lasted just four innings, giving up five earned runs on just three hits (three additional walks) over 88 pitches.

Berrios’ early exit opened the door for recent call-up Andrew Vasquez to make his major-league debut. Vasquez allowed an unearned run on both a catching AND throwing error by none other than himself. He only recorded two outs, and the rest of the game was taken over by longer-tenured Twins like Oliver Drake and Addison Reed.

The Rangers used six pitchers to get the win tonight, adding a Rougned Odor homer and combatting a ninth-inning RBI single from Logan Forsythe.

Tomorrow, the Twins will try to win the series using the newfangled “opener” technique, so tune in for a potential glance at the future of 21st-century baseball.

Winning Pitcher: Yovani Gallardo (8-3)

Losing Pitcher: Jose Berrios (11-10)

Save: Jose Leclerc (8)

Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images

Studs:

1B Joe Mauer (2-for-4, 2 R)

2B Logan Forsythe (3-for-4, RBI)

CF Jake Cave (2-for-4, 2 R, HR)

Duds:

SS Jorge Polanco (0-for-4, 4 LOB)

SP Jose Berrios (4 IP, 3 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 6 K)

ROBOT ROLL CALL: