Jeffers homers late as Twins rally to down Rangers

*Photo from Sports Illustrated*

   Clutch moments are all the more fun in baseball. Michael A Taylor homered twice, Ryan Jeffers homered, and the Minnesota Twins rallied to defeat the Texas Rangers with a 7-5 victory on Thursday night in Minneapolis.

   The win marks the Twins 6th in the last 10 games as they improve to 66-62, widening their lead in the AL Central to 6 games. The Twins belted 5 home runs in the win, extending the Rangers losing streak to 7 games.

   Rangers outfielder Travis Jankowski said that "Kind of had a good feeling early on in that game that we were going to break this skid and go out and put up about 10 runs and kind of cruise into it, and it didn’t happen. So, on to tomorrow."

   Marcus Semien gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead in the first inning with a solo home run. Kyle Farmer tied it 1-1 in the second, getting the Twins on the board with a solo home run of his own. Corey Seager hit a solo home run in the 3rd and Jankowski hit a two run single to make it 4-1 Rangers. Taylor made it 4-2 with a solo home run in the bottom of the 3rd before Leody Taveras homered in the 4th to make it 5-2.

   In the 5th inning, Taylor hit another solo home run, cutting the Twins deficit to 5-3. Royce Lewis then hit a solo home run in the 6th to make it a 5-4 game. It stayed that way until the 8th, when Carlos Correa tied it 5-5 with an RBI double. That set the stage for Jeffers, who hit a pinch hit two run home run to put the Twins ahead for good.

   Correa said of Jeffers' hit that "In the seventh inning, I walked into the cage and the machine was like super-high. And I was like, ‘How come the machine is so high?’ And he said, ‘I’m going to hit Will Smith’s slider, and he’s got the high release.’ And he started hitting sliders in the sixth and seventh innings. And then when he came up to bat, I was like, ‘Will Smith is going to throw him a slider, and he’s been practicing the slider for two innings already.’"

   Pablo Lopez allowed 5 runs on 10 hits and one walk over 5 innings in his start for the Twins, getting a no decision. Josh Winder came on and delivered 3 shutout innings out of the bullpen to get the win, moving to 2-0 on the season. Griffin Jax picked up his second save of the season in the 9th.

   Andrew Heaney started and allowed 3 runs on 7 hits and one walk in 4 1/3 innings for the Rangers. Chris Stratton allowed a run in 1 2/3 innings before Jose Leclerc pitched a scoreless inning. Josh Sborz didn't get an out and was charged with two runs, while Will Smith allowed one run in one inning.

   Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said after the game that "I saw an offense that did a really nice job against a guy that was on a good roll. We had some great at-bats, put five runs on the board, and their long guy came in and shut us down. On a night like tonight the way the ball was flying, you’re hoping you can tack on, but he did a great job for them and they kept chipping away."

   The series continues with the second game of the 4 game set on Friday night. Sonny Gray starts for the Twins as they go for two wins in a row. Dane Dunning takes the mound for the Rangers as they try to avoid extending their losing streak to 8 games.