Rangers Rout Twins
By Art Garcia, The Sports Xchange
ARLINGTON, Texas — The Texas Rangers were wondering where their slumbering offense had gone.
For one night, at least, the bats were back in a big way.
Ryan Rua clubbed his first career grand slam, Shin-Soo Choo belted a three-run bomb in the same inning, and the Rangers blasted the Minnesota Twins 14-3 on Wednesday night at Globe Life Field.
“We’ve been searching for runs,” Texas manager Jeff Banister said. “I think prior to later innings, we’d only had two hits with runners in scoring position. But with that, guys continued to grind through.”
Helped by an eight-run eighth inning, the Rangers (10-12) salvaged the finale of the three-game series after dropping the first two. Texas improved to 5-2 on the 10-game homestand going into a day off Thursday.
The Twins (10-11) had a four-game winning streak against the Rangers snapped, but they are still 7-3 against Texas dating to last season.
“You’d like to get greedy and try to finish off a sweep,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said. “But we didn’t do it, so we’ll take the series.”
Texas’ Cole Hamels (2-0) was coming off his strongest start of the season, and though the left-hander wasn’t at his best, he made it threw 6 2/3 innings and allowed three runs. The veteran worked effectively around seven hits and three walks.
“Minnesota has always played us tough, especially since I’ve been here,” Hamels said. “They’re a tough team. They have a lot of guys that you kind of have to battle with and outlast.
“I think that’s what we were able to do, get to the bullpen and really put some good at-bats together. You really have to give it to the guys, especially Choo with what he was able to do in one inning. That’s pretty impressive.”
Choo had a triple in the eighth, giving him seven total bases in the inning. He also had a season-high three hits.
Rua, who has been scuffling in limited playing time this season, hit his first homer of the season after Rougned Odor was intentionally walked to load the bases.
“Them walking Odor, giving me the opportunity to come up with the bases loaded and being able to put the game out of reach was a good feeling,” Rua said.
Twins left-hander Hector Santiago started a day after his grandmother died, and he is set to go on the bereavement list. He managed to get through five innings and allowed two runs while not factoring in the decision.
“I wasn’t as efficient as I wanted to be,” Santiago said. “I threw some good pitches that guys laid off of. Delino DeShields was, I mean, that was as patient as I’ve ever seen him. He just wasn’t as aggressive as he’s been in the past. I thought he would chase; he didn’t.
“I battled with some guys on base, got out of some big situations.”
Banister shook up the lineup in an effort to jump-start a struggling offense. DeShields batted leadoff, Carlos Gomez dropped to third in the order and Choo hit ninth for the first time this season.
DeShields got on base five times and scored three runs.
The Rangers, down 2-0 early, responded with season highs in runs and hits (14). The eight-run rally was Texas’ high-scoring inning since an eight-run inning at Seattle on Aug. 8, 2015.
Texas initially broke the game open in the sixth by taking advantage of two Minnesota relievers and some sloppiness to score four times. Taylor Rogers immediately put the Twins behind the eight-ball by loading the bases with one out thanks in part to a hit batter and walk.
Tyler Duffey came in and promptly bounced a wild pitch, allowing Joey Gallo to score and give Texas its first lead at 3-2. Andrus followed with a two-run single and scored the final run of the frame via a passed ball.
Rogers (1-1) was charged with three runs in one-third of an inning.
Hamels went out for the seventh staked to a 6-2 and left with two outs with two runners on. Tony Barnette allowed a run-scoring single to Brian Dozier before getting out of the inning.
