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Post-Game Show: Twins 3, Rangers 2

D-tails
• Boxscore, AL West Standings, AL Wild Card Standings

Story of the Game
The Rangers came up just short- about a foot, to be exact – in a comeback bid against Minnesota on Friday.

RHP Tommy Hunter fell down 3-0 in the first inning, but didn’t allow Minnesota anything else to get the Rangers back into the game. Texas trailed 3-1 going to the ninth, but with two outs, as has often been the case on their current road trip, they rallied. DH Ivan Rodriguez doubled into the right field corner off All-Star closer Joe Nathan. LF David Murphy followed with a high drive that hit about 22-feet up on the 23-foot plastic sheet that serves as the right field wall. It went instead for a run-scoring double, rather than a game-tying homer. After pinch hitter Hank Blalock took a walk, 1B Chris Davis worked the count full against Nathan. He took the full-count pitch, which appeared to be off the plate and low, but was called for a game-ending third strike.

Three Up
• RHP Tommy Hunter showed the kind of resilience a starter needs after a poor first inning. He rallied to hold the Twins scoreless for six more and qualified for a quality start. Hunter has pitched at least five innings in all 12 starts this season and at least into the sixth 10 times.
• In his major league debut, RHP Pedro Strop looked very Feliz-like with a perfect inning that included a strikeout of AL batting leader Joe Mauer. Strop showed a sharp splitter.
• 3B Michael Young had a hit to extend his streak to 15 games. It’s the longest active streak in the majors and the longest by a Ranger this year. Young hhad the previous high of 14 earlier this summer.

Three Down
• The Rangers lost ground in the AL wild card as Boston overcame an early 3-0 deficit to beat Toronto 6-5. It improved the Red Sox lead to 2.5 games.
• C Taylor Teagarden struck out in all three of his at-bats. Teagarden is hitting .160 (12-for-75) since the All-Star break. He has 31 strikeouts in 75 at-bats.
• The AL West race took an unfortunate turn for the Rangers when the Los Angeles Angels acquired LHP Scott Kazmir from Tampa Bay. Kazmir is 5-1 with a 2.28 ERA against the Rangers in his career and could start against them twice in September.

Stat o’ the Game
5: Number of Rangers who have had at least 25 homers and 25 steals in the same season : Toby Harrah (1977) , Bobby Bonds (1978), Ivan Rodriguez (1999), Alfonso Soriano (2005) and Ian Kinsler, who had two stolen bases to give him 26 for the season. Kinsler has 28 homers this season. Soriano had the only 30-30 season in Rangers history in 2005.

Player of the Game
Here are your candidates: Minnesota LHP Brian Deunsing (7 IP, 3 H, 1 R), RHP Tommy Hunter (7 IP, 7 H, 3 R), LF David Murphy (1-for-4, RBI), RHP Pedro Strop (1 IP, 0 R, 1 K of Joe Mauer). Vote here.

Thursday’s Player of the Game: RHP Jason Grilli (50% of vote).

Flying Saucer/Flying Fish Depot Double-Dip Game
Flying Saucer: Rangers lose, no winners.
Flying Fish: Rangers walk twice, no winners.

Home Run Pool
Winner: Cameron (0 HRs, 2 Runs). Cameron please get in touch.