Rangers' Mike Minor flirts with major perfection in win over Padres

Texas Rangers left-hander Mike Minor worked fast and sharply Wednesday night and came awfully close to perfection.

Minor retired the first 19 San Diego Padres batters before Eric Hosmer singled up the middle with one out in the seventh inning at Globe Life Park.

Minor had five strikeouts and no walks and allowed just the one hit as Texas won its season-high fourth consecutive series with a 5-2 win over San Diego. Chris Martin took over in the eighth inning. Minor threw 85 pitches (54 strikes). His previous low hit game this season was two in six innings against the Blue Jays on April 7.



"It was pretty special," Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. "There were a lot of things going on inside that game. He had some great defense behind him, he had some balls that were hit at guys and then he had some great stuff. The mix of pitches with the fastball, the breaking ball and the changeup were really swing and miss."

The Rangers led 4-0 after scoring twice in the third and another run in the fourth. Texas added a fourth run in the seventh.

Hosmer's single came on an 88 mph slider on a 1-1 pitch. Later in the seventh, center fielder Delino DeShields stole a two-run home run from Hunter Renfroe when he went up above the wall for the catch to end the inning.

"I knew I made a bad pitch so I kind of just put my head down and was walking around and I looked up and at the last second I saw Delino jumping for the ball and making the catch," Minor said. "It kind of stunned me, I was like I don’t even know what happened right there.

"I think I said 'Oh my God' or something. It was a nice catch. He’s done a lot of nice things for me, made a lot of nice plays for me."

DeShields also made an excellent long, running catch on the track in the fourth. Shortstop Elvis Andrus ended the fifth inning with a backhanded stop to his right and long throw to get Joe Pirela.

"Whatever I can do to help the team, help our pitching staff," said DeShields, who was 1 for 3 with an RBI bunt single in the fourth. "Mike was out there throwing his tail off. It’s my job. I was happy that we kept them off the board right there."

After Minor sizzled through seven, Martin and Jose Leclerc both labored to get through the eighth without too much damage. Martin was charged with two runs on three hits but one of the runs scored when Leclerc walked Hosmer with the bases loaded. Leclerc struck out Wil Myers to end the inning with the bases loaded.



When Banister told him he was not going back out for the eighth Minor wanted to know why.

"When we took him out it was a great question by him and deserved," said Banister, who told Minor if the game was scoreless the game would still be his. "It's still a big picture perspective for us. He was at 85 pitches and he grinded hard."

Ryan Rua's solo homer in the eighth pushed the Rangers' lead to 5-2. Keone Kela pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his 20th save in 20 chances, the longest season-opening save streak in Rangers history.

Shin-Soo Choo extended his on-base streak to 40 games with two hits, which also extended his hitting streak to 11 games. The 40-game on-base streak is tied for the longest in the majors this season and is the fourth-longest in Rangers history.

This story was originally published June 27, 2018 at 9:00 PM.