Ryan Jeffers hit a pinch-hit, two-run go-ahead homer to highlight a three-run eighth inning as the Minnesota Twins rallied to defeat the Texas Rangers 7-5 in the opening game of a four-game series on Thursday night in Minneapolis.
Jeffers hit reliever Will Smith’s first pitch 427 feet into the second deck in left-center for his 10th home run of the season, driving in Carlos Correa, who had tied the contest earlier in the inning with an RBI double off the bottom of the center-field fence off losing pitcher Josh Sborz (5-6).
Michael A. Taylor hit two home runs, Royce Lewis went 3-for-3 with a home run and Kyle Farmer also homered for Minnesota, which snapped a two-game losing streak and extended its American League Central lead to six games.
Josh Winder (2-0) picked up the win with three hitless innings of relief while Griffin Jax pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his second save.
Corey Seager homered and totaled two hits, Travis Jankowski had three hits and two RBIs and Marcus Semien and Leody Taveras also hit home runs for Texas, which lost its seventh straight game. Despite the loss, the Rangers remain one game ahead of both Houston and Seattle in the A.L. West standings.
Texas took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Semien led off with his 20th homer of the season, a 398-foot drive to left-center that snapped a 19-inning scoreless inning streak by Twins starter Pablo Lopez.
Minnesota tied it, 1-1, in the second on Farmer’s 435-foot drive into the second deck in left-center, his eighth home run of the season.
The Rangers took a 4-1 lead in the third with all three runs coming with two outs. Seager started the rally with his 24th homer and Texas then loaded the bases on singles by Nathaniel Lowe and Adolis Garcia followed by a walk to Mitch Garver. Jankowski then drove in Lowe and Garcia with a single.
Taylor cut the lead to 4-2 in the bottom of the third when he led off with a homer to left, but Texas answered with a solo home run by Taveras in the fourth to extend its lead to 5-2.
Taylor made it 5-3 in the fifth with a 422-foot homer to dead center, and Lewis lined his sixth home run in the sixth to cut it to 5-4, setting the stage for the eighth-inning comeback.
–Field Level Media
