Minnesota Twins stun Texas Rangers 5-1 at Rangers Ballpark – MLB Update
Minnesota Twins stunned the Texas Rangers 5-1 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas on Friday, July 6 in the opening game of their three match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
Joe Mauer continued his great hitting form as he singled to right in the third inning to break the deadlock. Josh Willingham also made his presence felt by reaching second base safely on an error by Rangers’ first baseman Mike Napoli as the Twins doubled
their lead 2-0.
Justin Morneau singled to right in the third and Mauer hit a sacrifice fly to centre in the fourth to extend Minnesota’s lead 4-0. Nelson Cruz singled to left-centre in the sixth to score the only run for the Rangers. Twins’ starting pitcher Francisco Liriano
executed his tactics to perfection for his third win of the season.
Minnesota looked very good during the game as they played with some positive rhythm and managed to dominate the mighty Rangers for a tremendous victory.
"We just wanted Liriano to get through it," Gardenhire said. "Those are big moments for him. We trust him. We don't want to extend our bullpen too much, and he got a big out there."
"I've iced it three times already. It feels a little better than it did," Hamilton said. "It kind of scared me when it first happened because I didn't know what to expect from a spasm like that. I had some weakness in my legs."
The Twins might be having trouble winning games at Target Field but they have certainly played out of their skins on their road trip games. Their encounter with the Texas Rangers on Friday evening was proof of what the Twins are capable of. Dominating their
opponents in almost all aspects of the game, the Twins secured a comfortable 5-1 win to take 1-0 lead in the series.
Manager Ron Gardenhire will be very pleased with what he saw from the bullpen and surely the Twins will be looking to grab a rare series sweep at Rangers Ballpark to finish the first half of the season on a high note. It will also be interesting to see if
Minnesota can give consistent results in second half of the season to have any chance of making it to the post season.
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