Rangers Avoid Sweep against Twins in Extras

Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

August 18, 2024

Rangers 6, Twins 5

ARLINGTON, Tex. (Aug 18) — The Texas Rangers narrowly avoided the four-game sweep by beating the Minnesota Twins, 6–5, in a walk-off victory in extras on Sunday afternoon. Adolis Garcia and Josh Jung both hit game-changing homers in the seventh to lift the Rangers to their first win of this home stand. Jung also got his first-career walk-off base hit in the 10th inning. With this series behind them, the Rangers will host the Pittsburgh Pirates for three games starting on Monday evening. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm at Globe Life Field. Righty Luis Ortiz (5–3, 3.41 ERA) will get the ball for the Pirates, while the Rangers have yet to announce their starting pitcher for the series opener.

The Twins, meanwhile, will head to San Diego for three against the Padres. That series will also get under way on Monday evening with first pitch scheduled for 6:40 pm Pacific at Petco Park. Right-hander Zebby Matthews (1–0, 3.60 ERA) will take the hill for the Twins, while the Padres have yet to announce their starting pitcher for that contest.

Quick Lead for Twins

The Twins got on the scoreboard almost immediately in the top of the first with Tyler Mahle on the mound for the Rangers. Willi Castro struck out swinging to open the inning. On deck was Jose Miranda, who lined a triple to left, his third of the season. Up next was Ryan Jeffers, who blasted a three-run homer to left-center, his 19th of the year. The Twins extended their lead to 4–0 in the top of the third. A single by Castro led things off. After Miranda lined to short, Trevor Larnach singled to right to move Castro to second, and a wild pitch by Mahle advanced him to third. Moments later, Jeffers plated Castro with a single to left.

Garcia, Jung Come to Life

The Rangers made things interesting in the bottom of the seventh off Twins reliever Jorge Alcala. Leody Taveras led off with a single to center. Marcus Semien drove him in with a double to right to make it 4–1. Up next was Corey Seager, who hit a double to score Semien. After Josh Smith flied to right, Garcia launched one out to the Twins’ bullpen in left-center to tie the game 4–4, at which point there was bedlam amongst the crowd of 30,735 inside Globe Life Field. There were also 325 dogs on hand for Bark at the Park Day. After Nathaniel Lowe struck out swinging, Jung gave the Rangers a 5–4 lead with a solo blast to center with the smoke from the fireworks from Garcia’s homer still floating in the air.

Walk-Off for Jung

The Rangers were ready to celebrate their first win in several days, but the Twins had other ideas. They tied it 5–5 in the top of the ninth off Rangers closer Kirby Yates. Carlos Santana hit a solo shot to right, temporarily silencing the crowd, including the dogs. It was the 18th homer for Santana this season, and it marked Yates’ first blown save as a Ranger. He had been successful in his last 21 opportunities.

Fast forward to the bottom of the 10th with Jhoan Duran on the mound for the Twins. Garcia jogged out second as the ghost runner for the Rangers, as he flied to left to end the ninth. Moments after Lowe struck out swinging for the second time, Jung singled to Miranda at third. His throw to first was offline, and Garcia sprinted home to score the winning run.

What Went Right for the Rangers

The Rangers showed how resilient they can be on Sunday. The home runs by Garcia and Jung were crucial as they provided the momentum that this offense has needed these past several weeks. They didn’t stop playing, even when the Twins tied it in the ninth. Garcia was key in the win as well. When Jung singled, Garcia didn’t stop running. He saw Miranda’s throwing error and capitalized on it, stomping on the plate to win it for the Rangers.

What Went Wrong for the Rangers

As good as this win was for the Rangers, it wasn’t perfect. They had to deal with Larnach’s RBI triple and Jeffers RBI single in the first. Santana’s homer in the ninth was a real sweep to the leg, but Garcia slid into the role of Mr. Miyagi in the end, ironically allowing the Rangers to avoid the sweep.

Short Afternoon for Mahle

Rangers starter Tyler Mahle pitched a season-low three innings on 61 pitches Sunday, allowing four runs, all earned, on six hits to his former team. Following a strikeout of Castro to begin the game, the right-hander allowed three consecutive extra-base hits as the Rangers trailed 3–0 after the first. The Twins tacked on another run in the third on the Jeffers RBI single. Mahle gave way to Gerson Garabito in the fourth with the Rangers down, 4–0.

Garabito logged a career-high four innings on Sunday (0 H, BB, HBP, 3 SO, 46 pitches/31 strikes), covering the third through seventh frames in relief. There have now been two relief appearances of 4.0+ IP, 0 R, and 0 H in the majors this season, with the Rangers accounting for both. Yerry Rodriguez did it on May 14 against the Cleveland Guardians. The last time a team had two such relief appearances in the same season was the Tampa Bay Rays in 2021. Andrew Chafin earned his first win as a Ranger after tossing a perfect 10th inning with one strikeout. His record now sits at 4–2 with an ERA of 3.63.

Lopez’ Afternoon

Twins starter Pablo Lopez did not factor into the decision despite twirling six scoreless frames in his 25th start of the campaign. His final line was 6.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 SO, 101 pitches/71 strikes. Lopez produced his second scoreless outing of the season, but was removed from the decision after the Rangers had their five-run rally in the bottom of the seventh.

He worked around men on base in all six innings, as his 10 baserunners allowed were the most by any Twins pitcher in an outing of 6+ scoreless innings since Brian Duensing on July 4, 2011 against the Rays. López has gone 3–1 with a 2.79 ERA over his last seven starts to drop his season ERA figure from 5.18 to 4.47. After giving up the winning run in the 10th, Duran was slapped with his sixth loss of the season. His record now sits at 6–6 with an ERA of 3.32.

Postgame Comments

After the game, Bruce Bochy reflected on how important Sunday’s win was. “It’s hard to have a tougher series than we had,” Bochy said. “A couple of the previous games got away from us. You’re looking at getting swept. You’re down four runs. The first six innings we created some pretty good opportunities, but couldn’t quite cash in. Then they broke loose.”

Bochy also discussed the bullpen’s performance on Sunday. “Gerson (Garabito) saved us,” Bochy said. “Terrific job, the bullpen has been used quite a bit. He was the freshest, so to go out there and keep putting up zeros, he gave us a chance to come back. That’s his win. This was a big one. The last thing you want to do is get swept four games at home.”