Minnesota kept giving the next hitter a better chance

The Rangers’ 2-0 lead at Target Field lasted through one tidy inning. Then Josh Bell walked, Ryan Jeffers singled, Walker Jenkins singled, and Minnesota had three runners aboard before Jacob deGrom recorded an out.

That was the shape of Texas’ 10-2 loss Friday: Bell, Jeffers and Jenkins created traffic first, and the larger hits arrived while that traffic was still standing there. DeGrom needed an early out to slow that inning. Instead, the lineup kept advancing runners until Texas was trying to escape a rally that had already taken away its lead.

Bell opened the bottom of the second with a walk. Jeffers followed with a single that moved Bell to second, and Jenkins then singled, sending Bell to third and Jeffers to second. No outs had been recorded. When Royce Lewis lined a single to center, Bell and Jeffers scored, while Jenkins remained at third. The Rangers’ lead was gone before Minnesota had made an out.

That sequence gave the next hit extra value. Bell’s walk put a runner at first for Jeffers, whose single moved him into scoring position at second. Jenkins’ single then loaded the bases.

Lewis could tie the game with one single because Bell and Jeffers were both in scoring position. The runners made ordinary contact expensive because Minnesota kept presenting the next batter with more than an empty-base problem.

Emmanuel Rodríguez finally struck out, the inning’s first out. It did not clear the bases. Jenkins was still at third and Lewis remained on first, and Ryan Kreidler followed by reaching on a bunt single.

Jenkins scored, Lewis moved to second, and Minnesota took a 3-2 lead. Kreidler’s bunt produced the go-ahead run while leaving Minnesota with two runners aboard. Texas had finally recorded an out, only to find the bases busy again.

Luke Keaschall then drove a line-drive triple to right. Lewis and Kreidler scored, making it 5-2, and the second out still had not arrived. Minnesota had now scored five runs in an inning that contained just one out because the initial three-batter sequence kept runners alive long enough for Lewis, Kreidler and Keaschall to cash them in.

Brooks Lee’s plate appearance supplied the inning’s oddest detail. Lee eventually lined out softly to second, but before that out was recorded, deGrom threw a wild pitch and Keaschall scored. Minnesota led 6-2 by the time Lee’s lineout supplied the second out, with the last run coming without another hit.

The distinction between an out and a clean inning mattered all night. Minnesota scored twice before its first out and four more before its second. Even after Rodríguez’s strikeout, the Twins still had a runner at third and another at first; after Lee’s lineout, the damage from that at-bat had already reached the plate. Texas could record outs without immediately ending the sequence.

Kody Clemens followed Lee with a single, Minnesota’s sixth hit of the inning. Bell then grounded out sharply to first to finish the frame. During Bell’s plate appearance, Clemens stole second, though the inning was already complete in its essential form: ten Minnesota batters had appeared, six runs had scored and deGrom had faced a lineup that kept extending the problem.

The starter did produce a scoreless third, retiring Jeffers, Jenkins and Lewis in order. That was a pause, not a repair. In the fourth, Kreidler walked with one out, Keaschall doubled him home, and Clemens singled Keaschall in after Lee popped out.

DeGrom left after four innings with eight hits and eight runs allowed, along with three walks and five strikeouts. Minnesota did not hit a home run against him.

That absence makes the second inning more revealing, not less damaging. The Twins used a walk, three early singles, a bunt hit, a triple and a wild pitch to turn a two-run deficit into a four-run lead. Keaschall later finished 4-for-5 with a double, triple, three RBI and three runs, while Clemens went 3-for-4 and added a two-run homer in the sixth.

Joe Ryan gave Minnesota the breathing room Texas could not take away, allowing two runs over six innings with eight strikeouts. The Rangers finished with six hits and no home run, and only Brandon Nimmo’s first-inning double went for extra bases. Their opening burst had useful contact; the Twins’ second inning had continuity.

Bell came up twice in the second, walking to begin it and grounding out to end it. Between those trips, Minnesota scored six times. Texas had started the inning with a two-run lead; by the time the lineup turned over, deGrom was trying to stop the rally from getting worse.

Sources

Official game data

Official game box score