Rangers @ Twins: August 17th-19th

[Molina00]

Game 1 Recap
The first game of the series featured a nice pitching duel between Kason Gabbard and Carlos Silva. Gabbard allowed just 1 run on 5 hits over 6.2 innings for Texas but was just barely outdone by Silva who also allowed 1 run on 5 hits, but last 7 innings and struck out 6 Ranger batters. It came down to the bullpen though, as a 10th inning run gave the Twins a 2-1 victory.

The Twins took the lead first scoring their only run against Gabbard in the 2nd inning. The Rangers tied it up in the 3rd thanks to Saltalamacchia's 1st homerun of the year for Texas. The two teams then combined for 7 straight scoreless innings from the bottom of the 3rd through the top of the 10th, before the Twins scored the game winning run.

[Molina00]

Game 2 Recap
The Rangers back on the winning side in fine fashion yesterday with a 5-0 win over the Twins in game 2. Both teams had 8 hits, but the Rangers had 2 doubles and 2 homeruns while all the Twins hits were harmless singles.

Kam Loe started for Texas and pitched 5 scoreless innings allowing just 3 hits. He did have some control problems though walking 5 Minnesota batters.

All 5 of the Ranger's runs came against Twins starter Boof Bonser. Three of those 5 runs were courtesy of homers from Marlon Byrd and Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Saltie's 5th inning blast was his 2nd of the year as a Ranger, and gave him a homerun in consecutive games.

[Molina00]

Game 3 Recap
This was a great series for Texas in pitching terms. They allowed only run in today's series finale, meaning the Ranger pitching staff allowed a combined total of 3 runs in the entire series. The only problem with that is, they still lost 2 of the 3 games.

Johan Santana absolutely dominated the Ranger hitters today holding them to 2 hits and blowing away 17 batters. In defense of the Rangers effort, Kevin Millwood gave up just 1 run through excellent innings of work, but the Rangers still fell 1-0. Sammy Sosa was the only offensive highlight going 2 for 3 with a double accounting for both of the Rangers hits in the game.

Despite averaging just 2.3 runs allowed per game over the last 4 games, the Rangers are just 1-3 in that span due to an obvious severe lack of offense.