Texas 4, Minnesota 3
When: 7:05 PM ET, Sunday, July 8, 2012
Where: Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Arlington, Texas
Temperature:
96°
Umpires:
Home -
Chris Conroy, 1B -
Jeff Kellogg, 2B -
Eric Cooper, 3B -
Lance Barrett
Attendance:
43268
By SportsDirect Inc.
Rangers 4, Twins 3 (13): Ian Kinsler's fourth hit of the night, a bases-loaded single in the bottom of the 13th inning, lifted host Texas over Minnesota in the rubber game of the series.
Kinsler crushed a 2-1 pitch from Alex Burnett to the warning track in left-center as the Rangers won the final two games of the series and maintained their four-game lead over the Los Angeles Angels atop the American League West.
Michael Young also had four hits for Texas, including a double to lead off the 13th and a tying two-run single that capped a three-run ninth and sent the game into extra innings.
Scott Feldman (3-6), the eighth pitcher for the Rangers, worked two innings for the victory. Burnett (2-2) took the loss, allowing one run on three hits.
Texas trailed 3-0 in the ninth inning but rallied to tie it against closer Glen Perkins, who was victimized by an error that led to the first run before giving up three straight two-out hits, including Young's single.
The rally spoiled a superb effort by Twins rookie Cole De Vries, who threw seven scoreless innings and allowed only three singles while striking out five and walking one.
Justin Morneau stretched his hitting streak to 10 games with an RBI single and Joe Mauer, Ryan Doumit and Trevor Plouffe each had two hits and scored a run for the Twins.
Minnesota scored twice in the ninth on a sacrifice fly by Denard Span and a throwing error by Rangers closer Joe Nathan, who had pitched two innings Saturday night for the first time since August 2009.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Rangers reliever Michael Kirkman exited the game in the 10th inning with a left quadriceps strain. ... The game was delayed 46 minutes when a bolt of lightning hit near the ballpark. "That's the loudest noise I've ever heard. I thought Jesus was comin!" Twins CF Span tweeted. ... Rangers reliever Robbie Ross retired both batters he faced to extend his scoreless innings streak to 23. He has not allowed an earned run in 30 1/3 innings. ... Twins right-hander P.J. Walters felt discomfort in his shoulder after making a rehab start Friday at Triple-A Rochester. ... Right-hander Nick Blackburn pitched eight scoreless innings for Rochester on Sunday.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Minnesota |
|
Texas |
Cole De Vries
|
Player |
Roy Oswalt
|
No Decision |
W/L |
No Decision |
7.0 |
IP |
5.2 |
5 |
Strikeouts |
3 |
3 |
Hits |
5 |
0.00 |
ERA |
1.59 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
Minnesota
|
9 |
0 |
9 |
.205 |
17 |
7 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
Texas
|
14 |
0 |
16 |
.292 |
23 |
6 |
4 |
5 |
0 |
1 |