ARLINGTON, TEXAS – The Twins avoided a sweep Sunday, beating the Rangers 6-5 at Globe Life Field.
Byron Buxton kicked off the scoring with a home run in his first at-bat. The Twins added two more runs in the second, stringing together four consecutive hits off Rangers starter Dane Dunning, including RBI singles for Jose Miranda and Ryan Jeffers.
Dunning would leave the game in the third inning after loading the bases on walks before forcing a run in when he hit Miranda with a pitch.
The Rangers started a comeback in the second inning thanks to a three-run double from Josh Smith. They briefly tied the game at 4-4 on Corey Seager's sacrifice fly in the fifth inning, which was the last for Twins starter Dylan Bundy. Bundy gave up four runs on six hits and two walks with four strikeouts. He earned the win and has a 5-4 record.
Ryan Jeffers re-established the Twins' lead with a solo home run in the sixth. Another run scored the next inning when Rangers reliever Matt Bush botched a pickoff throw with Jorge Polanco on third base.
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli put Jhoan Duran on the mound in the bottom of the eighth, the same spot he pitched Saturday when he gave up three hits and two runs in the 9-7 loss. He surrendered a leadoff homer to Seager to pare the Twins' lead back to one run.
Tyler Duffey held the line in the ninth to earn his second save.
The Twins are now 48-40 atop the American League Central, while the Rangers fell to 39-44 in the West division.
