Rangers Routed By Twins
MINNEAPOLIS — Rookie Miguel Sano’s first six weeks in the major leagues have been quite the eye-opener.
Sano saved his best yet for Wednesday against the Texas Rangers.
The Minnesota Twins designated hitter had three hits, including a pair of long home runs, reached base four times and knocked in six runs as the Twins rolled to an 11-1 win.
And the game didn’t seem that close.
Minnesota led off the game with a home run by center fielder Aaron Hicks, who tied a career high with four hits, then added three runs in each of the third and fourth innings before blowing the game wide open with a four-run fifth.
The Twins pounded out 18 hits as a team, and despite the 11 runs, left 10 men on base.
Hicks’ leadoff homer was the first of his career and seventh by the Twins this season. It was a barometer of things to come.
Sano’s first of the night, a two-run shot, capped a three-run third inning before his big blow — a three-run blast with two outs in the fourth, which came after an error on a ground ball to shortstop Elvis Andrus that would have ended the inning.
“That was impressive to me because the (pitcher) almost quick-pitched out of
the stretch with a man on second and he threw a fastball down and in,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said. “Somehow, he stayed inside of it and hit it as far as he did.”
Sano’s second home run didn’t travel as far as the first, but landed in the first row of the third deck, some 421 feet down the left-field line. It was the first multi-home run game of Sano’s 33-game major league career.
“You don’t see many balls in the upper deck,” Molitor said.
Sano added a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning, giving him six RBIs on the night, tying a club rookie record. The six runs batted in are the most by any Twin in a single game this season.
“(Pitchers) are pitching me a lot of off-speed, more than Double-A,” Sano said. “I try to make adjustments every at-bat, to read the pitcher and I try to hit a good pitch every time.
“When they make a mistake I need to wait for that.”
The offensive outburst overshadowed a solid performance on the mound from Twins starter Mike Pelfrey, who allowed just one run on four hits and a walk over seven innings, earning his first win since June 6 against Milwaukee. Pelfrey is 4-2 with a 1.97 ERA in 11 starts at home this season.
“I felt like I had my good fastball today,” Pelfrey said. “Two months ago, they kicked my butt pretty good. That was extra motivation coming into today.”
Minnesota did much of its damage against Rangers right-hander Nick Martinez, who allowed seven runs (four earned) on 11 hits in 3 2/3 innings, dropping to 7-7 this season. The 11 hits allowed were a career high and the outing was the shortest by Martinez in over two months.
“Just one of those games you have to forget about,” Martinez said. “They were hitting my fastball pretty good. We made some adjustments towards our game plan. I just didn’t get to those adjustments. I recognized the situation, I just couldn’t get there.”
The victory assured the Twins of at least a series win and they will go for a three-game sweep on Thursday afternoon. It was the first series win for the Twins since they took three of four from the Detroit Tigers on July 9-12.
Minnesota moved to within two games of the Los Angeles Angels for the second wild-card spot in the American League and 1 1/2 games clear of the Rangers, who have lost three straight games and four of five overall.
“We’re at the time of year where we need to string them together,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. “We need to play well tomorrow and we need to string good games together, in all facets.”
Torii Hunter was the only starter in the Twins’ lineup without a hit. Second baseman Brian Dozier had two doubles. Left fielder Eddie Rosario, third baseman Trevor Plouffe and shortstop Eduardo Nunez also had two-hit nights for Minnesota, which hasn’t swept a series in more than a month.
Texas mustered just five hits, getting its lone run on an RBI single by first baseman Prince Fielder in the sixth inning. The Rangers’ Nos. 5-9 hitters combined to go 0-for-16.
