Minnesota Twins defeat Texas Rangers 7-2 – MLB Update
Minnesota Twins silenced the Texas Rangers 7-2 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas on Wednesday, July 27.
The Rangers might be the leaders in the American League West Division but failed to counter the lowly ranked Minnesota Twins who are currently fourth in the AL Central Division. Surprisingly enough, the Rangers were defeated on home soil where they have
achieved a tremendous winning percentage this season. After this loss, their win-loss record at home stands at 34-21. This has deteriorated from 34-19.
Twins showed immaculate teamwork as their batters and pitchers performed as per requirement. Joe Mauer was the pick of the batters as he went on to add three-runs for his side. Brian Duensing was impressive at the plate as he focused on precision and was
awarded duly with his eighth win of the season. Duensing conceded just one run in 6.2 innings.
Mauer pulled off things in style at the top of the first inning when he smashed the ball to the stands for his first home-run this season. Michael Cuddyer replicated Mauer’s feat in the fourth inning with a scintillating home-run to take his current season’s
tally of home-runs to 15 and establish a solid two-run lead over the otherwise strong Rangers.
Rangers have been largely dependent on Ian Kinsler, Josh Hamilton and Michael Young for runs this season and unluckily, none of them was able to contribute in this game. Texas managed to score two runs in the entire game, the first coming in the fourth inning
through Elvis Andrus and the second coming late in the ninth inning with the bat of Mike Napoli.
The Twins gained a formidable advantage in the fifth inning and then finally sealed the game in the ninth inning with some epic display of baseball. Casilla and Mauer scored a run apiece in the fifth inning before Jason Kubel’s strong hit in the last inning
enabled Trevor Plouffe, Casilla and Mauer to add a run each and take the score to 7-1 before a late effort by Texas finished the game with the scoreboard showing 7-2.
Colby Lewis did not have a memorable night at the mound for the Rangers. In 6.2 innings of ordinary pitching, Lewis conceded eight hits and four runs. Darren Oliver replaced Lewis to halt things for one inning before Mark Lowe came on and gave away three
critical runs in the last inning. Lewis lost his eighth game of the season with ten wins already in his bag.
Rangers seem to have lost the momentum which saw them win 12 games on the trot. They have now lost three of their previous four games and it will be vital to see how they stage a comeback to keep the Los Angeles Angels away from the top spot in the AL West
Division. The Angels are now just two games behind the Rangers.
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