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The Minnesota Twins are pushing hard to stay competitive in the American League Central. On Saturday, they’ll aim for a series win against the Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas. After two close wins—a 3-2 victory on Thursday and a 4-3 win on Friday—the Twins are just three games behind the Cleveland Guardians, the division leaders.
The Twins currently hold the second of three AL wild-card spots. They’re two games ahead of the Kansas City Royals and 4.5 games in front of the Boston Red Sox.
Carlos Santana and Ryan Jeffers were key players in the Twins’ victory on Friday, which marked their fourth win in five games. Jeffers hit a solo home run to tie the game at 1-1 in the third inning. Then, Santana smashed a three-run homer in the fifth inning, giving the Twins the lead. Jeffers leads the team with 18 home runs, while Santana, now in his 15th year, is right behind him with 17.
“We kept grinding out at-bats,” Jeffers said. “Carlos hit a big one, and even at 38 years old, he still looks quite young. His bat, leadership, and defense are invaluable to our team.”
On Saturday, rookie right-hander David Festa (2-2, 5.20 ERA) will start for the Twins. This will be his sixth career start, following a tough outing against the Cleveland Guardians where he lasted only 3 1/3 innings. This will be his first time facing the Rangers.
While the Twins are moving closer to the postseason, the Rangers are heading in the opposite direction. Texas has lost 15 of their last 20 games and is on the verge of dropping their seventh consecutive series. The Rangers are now 11 games below .500, the worst they’ve been all season. They’re 10 games behind the Houston Astros in the AL West and 11.5 games away from the final AL wild-card spot.
In Friday’s game, the Rangers briefly took the lead, but starter Andrew Heaney struggled, allowing four runs on five hits over 4 1/3 innings. Of their last five losses, four were by just one run.
Texas manager Bruce Bochy said, “A loss is a loss. We’ve had some close games, but things just haven’t been going our way lately.” We’re not putting up the runs we’re used to. Sometimes, you can win after giving up four runs, but we just couldn’t find that extra run.”
The Rangers will try to bounce back on Saturday with Nathan Eovaldi (8-6, 3.75 ERA) on the mound. Eovaldi, a 34-year-old right-hander, struggled in his last start, pitching just three innings and giving up three runs on six hits in a loss to the New York Yankees on Aug. 10. Eovaldi has faced the Twins eight times in his career, with a 4-3 record and a 4.89 ERA.
