ARLINGTON, Texas — Luis Arraez hit an RBI triple to start the Minnesota 10th inning and the Twins then drew two bases-loaded walks to beat the Texas Rangers 7-5 on Friday night in the opener of a three-game series matching last-place teams.
Arraez tripled to deep center field over the head of Adolis García, whose homer in the Texas seventh had tied the game at 4-4, and Willians Astudillo rumbled home from second base.
Josh Sborz (3-3), the sixth Texas pitcher, then struck out two but also had three walks, including an intentional pass to slugger Nelson Cruz before Ryan Jeffers got a free pass with the bases loaded. Demarcus Evans took over and walked Alex Krilloff to force in another run.
Hansel Robles (3-3) worked a perfect ninth before Tyler Duffey worked the 10th for his second save, allowing a one-out bloop RBI single to Joey Gallo.
Minnesota, at the bottom of the AL Central standings, has won consecutive games for only the second time this month. The AL West last-place Rangers have lost 17 of their last 20 games, and are 9-27 overall since leaving Minnesota after three consecutive wins there the first week of May.
Trevor Larnach had a no-doubt homer for the Twins when he pulled a towering 429-foot blast into the right-field seats with two outs in the fifth to snap a 3-3 tie. Rangers starter Mike Folytnewicz immediately bent down and frustratingly swiped at the dirt on the mound without ever turning to watch the ball.
García’s two-out solo shot in the seventh off reliever Jorge Alcalá was his 17th of the season, but first in 72 at-bats over 19 games since last going deep May 26. García broke a Rangers rookie record for the most homers before the All-Star break, breaking a tie with Pete Incaviglia’s 16 in 1986.
FOR STARTERS
Twins right-hander José Berríos remained stuck on his career-best streak of five consecutive winning decisions, those coming over nine starts since the start of May. The right-hander struck out six and walked one while allowing three runs and six hits before departing with a 4-3 lead after six innings. Foltynewicz had four strikeouts and two walks while allowing four runs in five innings.
EXTRAS
Minnesota is 3-8 in extra innings. The Rangers are 7-4, now 4-1 at home when going past nine innings.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Twins: 3B Josh Donaldson (right calf tightness) and SS Andrelton Simmons (left ankle tightness) were both out of the lineup after exiting early from the Twins’ previous game Wednesday. Manager Rocco Baldelli said Donaldson was also dealing with an upper respiratory issue that affected his sleep the previous two nights. … CF Byron Buxton ran on the field before missing his 39th game since May 6 because of a right hip strain, though he could be activated at some point this weekend. Baldelli said Buxton “looked much more comfortable, he was more explosive,” than when he ran earlier this week at Seattle. Buxton was scheduled to see Rangers team physician Dr. Keith Meister before Twins medical officials conferred about the next step.
Rangers: OF David Dahl, out since May 26 because of a bruised left rib cage and then some mid-upper back discomfort after going on the injured list, went through a full workout Friday. He will begin a begin a rehab assignment this weekend.
UP NEXT
Randy Dobnak (1-6, 8.38 ERA) starts the middle game of the series for the Twins against 23-year-old lefty Kolby Allard (2-2, 2.91), who is scheduled to make his fourth start in 14 appearances for Texas this season.
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