J. A. Happ had to fight through the first inning, tossing more than 30 pitches but eventually got out of it with just 1 run allowed Josh Donaldson Hoodie. Byron Buxton answered that with a 2-run bomb to left-center to put the Twins up 2-1 in the 1st against former Twin Kyle Gibson. In the 5th, Willians Astudillo hit a solo shot to left to make it 3-1. In his return to Target Field, Gibson was pretty good. Despite the 2 homers, he held the Twins down for the most part and was able to toss 8 full innings, striking out 8 batters and allowing just 3 hits. As for the Twins starter, J. A. Happ settled in after that shaky first inning to pitch 5. 1 innings of 1-run baseball. It was not too flashy, just 3 strikeouts https://www.minnesotagearshop.com/Byung_ho_Park_Face_Mask-170, but he was effective. Hansel Robles finished the 6th inning and pitched a clean 7th. Disaster struck in the 9th inning. Taylor Rogers allowed a solo-HR to Willie Calhoun to make it 3-2. Charlie Culberson reached on an error by Josh Donaldson, and then Andy Ibanez singled. The two runners were bunted over, and then Andrelton Simmons made a great running catch, but that tied the game as Culberson scored on the sacrifice fly. Nick Solak flew out to center to end the threat, but the damage was done. Of course the Twins did nothing in the bottom of the 9th, so the game went to extra innings. I can probably stop the recap here because you know how these things end for the Twins. If you wish to keep reading, I can stop you. The Rangers score three times in the top of the 10th, two runs coming from a 2-run blast from Adolis Garcia https://www.minnesotagearshop.com/Jorge_Alcala_Hoodie-104. Joey Gallo and Charlie Culberson followed with doubles to score the third run. Brandon Waddell gave up those runs, then Jorge Alcala cleaned up that inning. I feel like we could have just skipped Waddell and went straight to Alcala. The Twins got a hit, a strikeout, and then a double play to end the game.
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