Rangers, at season low level, search solutions vs. Twins

Looking to keep pace in the American League Central, the Minnesota Twins will vie for a series win on Saturday against the Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas.

After a 3-2 win over the Rangers on Thursday to start the four-game set and a 4-3 win on Friday, the Twins enter play three games behind the division-leading Cleveland Guardians.

Minnesota holds the second of three AL wild-card spots, two games up on the Kansas City Royals and 4 1/2 games ahead of the Boston Red Sox.

Helping guide the Twins to their fourth win in five games on Friday were Carlos Santana and Ryan Jeffers, whose homers accounted for all of Minnesota’s runs.

Jeffers’ solo shot tied the game 1-1 off Texas starter Andrew Heaney in the third before Santana clobbered a go-ahead three-run homer in the fifth. Jeffers leads the team with 18 home runs, while Santana, in his 15th year, sits second on the club with 17.

“We kept our heads down and kept grinding out at-bats,” Jeffers said. “Scored our runs thanks to the long ball, obviously Carlos hit a big one. For a 38-year-old, (Carlos) looks pretty young. I’m glad he’s on our team. His bat, his leadership, and what he does with the glove. It’s invaluable to what we’re trying to do this year as a team.”

Hoping to keep Minnesota in the thick of the postseason picture, rookie right-hander David Festa (2-2, 5.20 ERA) gets the start on Saturday. Making the sixth start in his career, the 24-year-old is coming off a start in which he lasted just 3 1/3 innings against Cleveland on Sunday. Festa will be matching up against the Rangers for the first time in his young career.

As the Twins move closer to playing October baseball, Texas continues to inch further away. Losers in 15 of 20 games, the Rangers are on the verge of dropping their seventh consecutive series. The reigning World Series champions are a season-worst 11 games below .500.

Texas held a brief lead on Friday, but Heaney lasted only 4 1/3 innings, allowing four runs on five hits. The Rangers are 10 games back of the first-place Houston Astros in the AL West and 11 1/2 games behind the final AL wild-card spot.

Of the Rangers’ past five losses, four were by just a run.

“A loss is a loss,” Texas manager Bruce Bochy said. “They’re all not fun. We’ve played some tight games, and lately things haven’t gone our way. … We haven’t put up runs like we’re accustomed to. Occasionally, you can win games after giving up four runs, but we just couldn’t find a way to scratch and claw for another run.”

Texas will try to bounce back on Saturday when Nathan Eovaldi (8-6, 3.75 ERA) takes the mound to start. The 34-year-old right-hander struggled his last time out, pitching just three innings and yielding three runs on six hits in a loss to the New York Yankees on Aug. 10.

Eovaldi has faced the Twins eight times in his career, all starts, going 4-3 with a 4.89 ERA.

–Field Level Media