Rangers Lose Tough One against Twins

Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

August 17, 2024

Twins 5, Rangers 2

ARLINGTON, Tex. (Aug 17) — The Texas Rangers fell to the Minnesota Twins, 5–2, on Saturday evening, taking the series loss in front of a crowd of 31,192. It was on the same night that retired third baseman Adrian Beltre was honored for his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame with a pregame ceremony. The Rangers had a 2–1 lead, but the Twins put together a late-inning rally in the eighth thanks to a big RBI single by Willi Castro. The Rangers will look to avoid another sweep in the series finale against the Twins on Sunday afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 1:35 pm Central at Globe Life Field. Right-hander Pablo Lopez (11–8, 4.67 ERA) will get the ball for the Twins, while the Rangers will counter with fellow righty Tyler Mahle (0–1, 2.79 ERA).

Kelly Plates Two

The Rangers got their scoring started in the top of the second off Twins right-hander David Festa. Wyatt Langford opened the frame with an infield single that was out of the reach of Twins third baseman Royce Lewis. After consecutive groundouts by Josh Jung and Jonah Heim, Carson Kelly stepped to the plate. Moments later, Langford crossed the plate on a sharp single to left by Kelly.

The Twins tied it 1–1 in the top of the fourth with a leadoff homer to center by Trevor Larnach off Rangers righty Nathan Eovaldi. It was the 12th home run of the season for Larnach.

The Rangers regained their one-run lead in the bottom of the fourth. Langford lined to center and Jung grounded to third, respectively, to start the frame. On deck was Heim, who lined a double to right. Kelly followed with a double of his own that went to center, scoring Heim in the process.

More Miscues by Rangers

The Twins took a 4–2 lead in the top of the eighth. Edouard Julien led off with a single to center. Christian Vazquez moved him over to second with a single to center. On deck was Austin Martin, who advanced both runners with a bunt single to third. First base umpire Ryan Additon called Martin out on the play, but the Twins challenged, and there was enough evidence to overturn the close call.

Meanwhile, the Rangers brought in David Robertson to relieve Eovaldi. Up next was Castro, who scored all three runners on a single to center and a throwing error by Leody Taveras. The Twins scored one more in the top of the ninth with Walter Pennington on the mound for the Rangers. Brought in as a pinch-hitter for Matt Wallner, Jose Miranda grounded to short to lead off. Moments later, Pennington walked Carlos Santana. Max Kepler doubled to right, moving Santana to third. Both teams made changes as the Twins sent in Kyle Farmer to pinch-hit for Julien and the Rangers brought in Jose Leclerc to relieve Pennington. Santana scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Farmer to tally one final insurance run for the Twins.

What Went Right for the Twins

The Twins were able to catch the Rangers off guard on Saturday. Their late-inning rally surprised everyone in the ballpark. The singles by Julien, Castro, Vazquez, and Martin got the job done. That is no easy task against Robertson in the eighth inning. The Twins’ bullpen also chipped in with four scoreless innings.

What Went Wrong for the Twins

Carson Kelly was a real nuisance for the Twins on Saturday. He drove in both of the Rangers’ runs with a single and a double.

Eovaldi Gets Loss Despite Going Seven

Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi took his seventh loss of the season despite notching his team-leading 11th quality start on Saturday. His line on the evening was 7 IP, 6 H, 4 R-3 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 103 pitches/73 strikes. He had completed seven frames on 94 pitches with the Rangers leading, 2–1, but allowed three consecutive singles to begin the eighth frame. Eovaldi gave way to Robertson, who allowed all three runners to score on Castro’s go-ahead single.

Saturday marked Eovaldi’s fifth start this season with six or more strikeouts and no walks. That ties him for third in the AL with Garrett Crochet of the Chicago White Sox and Nestor Cortes of the New York Yankees. Eovaldi’s record for 2024 dropped to 8–7 with an ERA of 3.76.

No Decision for Festa

Twins starter David Festa did not factor into the decision after allowing two runs, both earned, over a season-high five innings. His line was 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R-ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 81 pitches/54 strikes. Festa has permitted two runs or fewer in each of his last four starts. He has gone 1–2 with a 2.38 ERA over that span. Festa has struck out 39 of 141 batters faced across the first seven appearances (six starts) of his major league career. It marks the third-most strikeouts ever by a Twins pitcher in his first seven career outings. Bert Blyleven had 43 in 1970, Joe Ryan had 41 in 2021-22, and Festa has 39 in 2024.

After pitching two scoreless innings in relief of Festa with one strikeout, righty Ronny Henriquez earned his first career major league win after twirling two scoreless frames. His record now sits at 1–0 with an ERA of zero in 2024.

Righty Cole Sands earned his fourth save of the year after pitching a spotless ninth with one strikeout.

Postgame Comments

In his postgame media session, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy discussed the difficulties that his team had on Saturday. “Just a couple balls that were left up, I guess, with two strikes,” Bochy said. “You have to give them credit. They did a good piece of hitting. And then we broke down defensively there. That didn’t help matters.”