A pair of American League teams close out a wraparound weekend set on the diamond in the Twin Cities. The Texas Rangers are on the road as they play the Minnesota Twins in the finale of a four-game series Monday night. In the first two games of the series, Minnesota won the opener by a 2-1 score Friday night before Texas earned a 4-3 triumph in 10 innings Saturday night to square things up. Which team comes up with the victory in this contest to end the series on a positive note? This article was published prior to the conclusion of the third game of the series, which took place Sunday afternoon at Target Field.
Texas bounced back from a tough loss Friday night to earn their fifth win in the last eight games by rallying to win in 10 innings Saturday. The Rangers entered Sunday afternoon third in the AL West, 22 games behind the Astros for the division lead. They were 10.5 games behind Tampa Bay for the final playoff spot in the American League. On Saturday night, Texas got four hits from Nathaniel Lowe while Corey Seager (run, RBI) added a pair in the contest. Glenn Otto was solid but didn’t factor in the decision as he threw 5.2 innings, allowing one run (none earned) on three hits with three walks and one strikeout. Jonathan Hernandez (1-0) picked up the win as he threw two innings, allowing one run (none earned) on one hit with one walk and one strikeout.
Cole Ragans is slated to make his fourth start of the season for the Rangers in this contest. He comes in 0-2 with a 5.02 ERA, a 1.465 WHIP, eig ht walks and seven strikeouts over 14.1 innings of work while allowing four homers. Ragans took the loss in his last start, which came Wednesday at home against the A’s. He threw five innings, allowing three runs on four hits with one walk and three strikeouts in a game the Rangers lost by a 7-2 score. In his fourth career major league start, Ragans pitches against the Twins for the first time. That makes this his first career start at Target Field as well. Prior to being recalled, Ragans was 8-5 with a 3.04 ERA, a 1.12 WHIP, 31 walks and 113 strikeouts over 94.2 innings in 18 starts split between Double-A Frisco of the Texas League and Triple-A Round Rock of the Pacific Coast League.