ARLINGTON, Texas — For what seems like the first time all season, the Minnesota Twins had good fortune on their side Friday night.
Despite repeatedly surrendering hard-hit balls, and with their pitchers constantly working with men on the bases, the Twins found a way to steal a victory. Simeon Woods Richardson and five relievers survived a barrage of hard contact, and Carlos Santana delivered another big moment as the Twins held on for a 4-3 victory over the Texas Rangers in front of 28,705 at Globe Life Field.
Santana’s three-run homer and a Ryan Jeffers solo shot were enough to outlast the Rangers, who hit 15 balls clocked at 95 mph or more. The victory improved the Twins to a season-best 16 games over .500 and moved them within three games of Cleveland in the American League Central.
“Kind of an edge-of-your-seat contest,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I just like the way that our guys are responding. … They hit a lot of balls on the barrel. They had good at-bats. But we maneuvered and kind of wiggled around and found ways, and then got big swings when we needed it. That’s a nice recipe.”
Just as he’s been so many times this season, Santana was the main ingredient in the winning mix.
Batting with two on and one out in the fifth inning of a tied game, Santana worked the count full against Texas starting pitcher Andrew Heaney before launching a changeup into the bullpen in left-center. It was the second day in a row Santana provided the big hit after he drove in the game-winner in a one-run victory Thursday night with a ninth-inning sacrifice fly.
Santana’s encore in the bottom half of the fifth also proved very useful.
Playing well off first base, Santana lunged with one out and robbed Leody Taveras of a line-drive base hit with a diving grab. One batter later, Marcus Semien smacked the left-field foul pole for a solo homer off Woods Richardson to get the Rangers back within 4-2.
“(Santana) surprises me every day,” said Twins leadoff hitter Manuel Margot, who singled ahead of Santana’s homer. “This is one of the best first basemen I’ve seen in my life. If you see how this guy prepares every time, everything he does is special. … He don’t look (38).”
Aging like fine wine 🍷
Carlos Santana smashes a 3-run shot to give the #MNTwins a 4-1 lead over the Rangers pic.twitter.com/t9vZCaBdRk
— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) August 17, 2024
The ball exited Taveras’ bat at 96.3 mph and carried an expected batting average of .570. It was one of many hard-hit balls hit by Texas hitters that found Twins gloves Friday.
Statistically, balls hit at 95 mph or better often result in base hits. Of the 15 balls hit 95 mph or better by the Rangers on Friday, 11 were turned into outs.
Among the highlights were two deep fly balls hit by Adolis García that were caught by Margot at or near the warning track in center field. Matt Wallner also made a running, leaping grab to steal a leadoff extra-base hit from Nathaniel Lowe in the fourth inning. One batter later, Max Kepler made a nice catch to rob Josh Jung.
But the best play of the night was produced by Willi Castro, who took over at shortstop to start the ninth inning. After Jhoan Duran struck out Wyatt Langford to start the inning, Carson Kelly ripped a 104.7 mph grounder ticketed for left field until Castro made a diving stop and throw to first for the out.
“I wouldn’t say I was comfortable, but an out is an out,” Jeffers said.
Despite yielding much of the hard contact, Woods Richardson allowed two earned runs and three hits in five innings to improve to 4-3. The Rangers cut the deficit in half with a run in the sixth as Caleb Thielbar and Cole Sands combined to allow three straight two-out hits before Sands struck out Kelly with two men in scoring position to end the threat.
Lefty Steven Okert delivered two big outs in the seventh with a man aboard, striking out Corey Seager and getting Robbie Grossman to line out to left. Griffin Jax struck out two batters in a perfect eighth inning before handing the ball off to Duran, who pitched a third straight day.
Duran appeared in line for a perfect inning, but a challenged call overturned the final out at first base as Taveras was awarded an infield single. Even with Semien at bat and Taveras on second after a stolen base, Duran was unfazed, striking out the batter to end the game.
“You’re allowed to win a game when the other team hits some balls hard,” Baldelli said. “We’ve sat here a few times saying, ‘Man, we hit a dozen balls on the barrel, all over the place,’ and we lose. That’s part of our game. The goal is to hit the ball hard and hit line drives and barrel them up. More times than not, it’s going to work out. We still found ways to hold them to just a few runs.”
Trailing by a run early, Jeffers tied the game in the third inning with a lined solo shot over the short fence in left field.
“They did a bad job of hitting them to the wrong parts,” Jeffers said. “I hit it to the shortest part of the park.”
Injury updates
Joe Ryan received a second opinion on his Grade 2 teres major strain and nothing changed about his diagnosis. Ryan traveled to Los Angeles on Thursday to meet with Dr. Neal ElAttrache, after which he’ll be shut down entirely for “weeks probably,” Twins athletic trainer Nick Paparesta said.
Noting the original MRI was straightforward, Paparesta thinks Ryan probably received peace of mind from the visit.
“(ElAttrache has) seen other players that have had this injury that have all come back and had no issues moving forward with it,” Paparesta said. “It’s just a little bit more of just a comfort factor.”
Though Ryan exited his Aug. 7 start at Wrigley Field, he was hopeful for a short absence. But the MRI he underwent revealed Ryan would miss significant time and potentially might not pitch again this season, news the pitcher was admittedly shocked by.
“You don’t want to say the season’s over at any point,” Paparesta said. “We’ll wait and see how things go once we get a chance to look at him again.”
Great bat, great result ✏️#MNTwins | #MLB pic.twitter.com/Fvc1M8XOG0
— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) August 17, 2024
• Carlos Correa (right plantar fasciitis) needs to be comfortable running daily without feeling sore the next day, Paparesta said. He’s not there yet. Along with running, Correa is hitting, throwing and taking groundballs. Correa recently switched cleats, hoping to minimize soreness.
• Byron Buxton (right hip inflammation) exercised in a pool Friday, a sign he could be improving after receiving a cortisone injection. Though his MRI and ultrasound revealed no structural damage, Buxton initially felt hip soreness even when sitting down. Paparesta thinks it could be related to a 2022 hip injury that cost Buxton five weeks. The injury is possibly related to scar tissue from the previous incident, which makes Buxton’s timeline murkier. Paparesta was hopeful after Buxton worked out.
“We’re kind of heading in the right direction,” he said.
• Chris Paddack (right forearm strain) won’t go full throttle until he has a second MRI on Aug. 27 and is cleared by Dr. Keith Meister, Paparesta said. Paddack, who intends to pitch again this season, has played catch a few times. “Once that’s cleared up, we’ll get him moving a little bit quicker,” Paparesta said.
• Brooks Lee (right bicep tendinitis) should start throwing Saturday and hitting from the right side. If the throwing goes well, Lee will begin to hit lefty Sunday or Monday.
• After playing catch on consecutive days, Justin Topa’s elbow soreness is still present, Paparesta said. “We’re going to slow him down a little bit more,” he said.
• Indications from Dr. Timothy Kremchek were good on Brock Stewart’s rotator cuff and labrum after he underwent surgery Tuesday. “A lot of aggressive stretching for him moving forward, but Kremchek was really happy what he saw on the inside as far as long-term health,” Paparesta said.
(Photo of Carlos Santana: Sam Hodde / Getty Images)
