Sunday, July 20, 2008 , Updated
Minnesota Twins 14, Texas Rangers 2
The Texas Rangers were once again unable to mount much of anything resembling offense Saturday night, losing to the Twins 14-2 in Minnesota. The loss was the second straight for Texas, who dropped to 50-48.
Photo not provided by the Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers
Twins pitching vs. Rangers hitting: unstoppable force versus extremely movable object
Despite leading the majors in scoring, the Rangers have not fared well against the pitching-heavy Twins this season. In the two games since the All-Star break, Texas' vaunted murderer's row of hitters has amassed a total of eight hits, including five on Saturday.
Thanks to a Chris Davis two-out, two-strike, two-run home run in the second inning, Texas wasn't shut out this time around. But other than that, the Rangers failed utterly in every conceivable aspect of the game.
Rangers rookie starter Matt Harrison suffered his second straight poor outing, giving up eight runs on nine hits over five innings. Harrison, who dominated the Angels in his first career start, was bailed out in his second by 12 Ranger runs, and left out to dry this time around by his teammates. Super-reliever
Dustin Nippert attempted to take control of the game after Harrison was yanked, but ended up helping put four more Twins runs on the board. Nippert's ERA is now back to double digits, at 10.24.
In related news, the injury-ravaged Texas starting pitching got good news and bad news Saturday as well. The good news: Vicente Padilla will be able to return to the rotation, possibly as early as Sunday. The bad news: young starter Kason Gabbard, who has been on and off the disabled list all season, is done for the year.
Posted by Todd M.
