Rangers can’t close door on Twins, get left out in cold
Texas Rangers closer Shawn Tolleson was seemingly available but never appeared Tuesday night.
Four days after remaining in a game the Rangers led by eight runs, the team’s closer was not called upon when the Minnesota Twins were closing in late.
Instead, Tolleson remained on the bench and the Twins scored twice in the eighth to tie it and won 3-2 with a walk-off double by Eduardo Escobar in the ninth at Target Field.
Jake Diekman, who hadn’t allowed a run since being traded from the Phillies in the Cole Hamels deal, gave up two runs in the eighth as the Twins rallied to tie.
Diekman walked the leadoff batter and then recorded two fly outs to center field, the second of which was a brilliant running catch by Delino DeShields that momentarily saved a run. Joe Mauer, however, who had just missed a game-tying homer that hooked foul down the left-field line, drove a run-scoring double to the gap in left-center to cut the Rangers lead to 2-1.
Diekman remained in the game to face the right-hitting Miguel Sano, who doubled high off the wall in right on the sixth pitch he saw. It tied the game at 2-2.
Spencer Patton replaced Diekman and struck out Trevor Plouffe to end the eighth.
“When your fastball is flat it’s pretty easy to hit no matter where it is,” said Diekman, who felt after DeShields’ catch he would escape unscathed. “When everything is belt high, it’s pretty easy to hit. When something like that happens you feel like, ‘all right, make one pitch and get out of it.’”
Patton walked Kurt Suzuki in the bottom of the ninth and Eduardo Escobar doubled to the right-field corner for the walk-off win.
Rangers manager Jeff Banister said the bullpen was lined up how he wanted it.
“Absolutely. For me, [Keone] Kela is out of the game, Dyson is out of the game,” Banister said. “We’ve talked about the four we have out in the back end of the bullpen, and Diekman has been good in those situations, has been outstanding since we got him. He’s also been good against right-handers, not just left-handers. That is a pitch he has made for us. One that I have confidence he’ll continue to make for us. He just didn’t have the normal run on the fastball he normally gets.”
Texas took a 2-0 lead on Elvis Andrus’ two-run homer in the second inning. Despite having a runner on with one or no outs in three of the next four innings the Rangers couldn’t push another run across.
In fact, including the first inning, when Delino DeShields and Shin-Soo Choo reached on a single and walk, the Rangers failed to capitalize with runners on with one or no outs in four of the first six innings. Twins starter Kyle Gibson came out after allowing seven hits and two walks in six innings.
Rangers starter Yovani Gallardo had his best outing since July 2. He left after walking Joe Mauer with his 100th pitch with two outs in the sixth. Sam Dyson took over and got the final out of the inning.
“I felt good. I think I had a pretty good fastball and the slide was working, especially after the first inning,” Gallardo said. “I was able to pound the zone and the guys made some good plays behind me.”
Kela, who rejoined the club before the game after 10 days with Double A Frisco, pitched a 1-2-3 seventh and handed it over to Diekman in the eighth.
“That’s the formula for us that’s going to be a winning formula,” Banister said. “We had the guys the in place that we wanted, the matchups we wanted. It’s not always perfect, it doesn’t always work out the way you want it to work out. It is a tough one. It’s one that we felt like we had our guys in place and how we wanted to play it.”
Banister was ready to use Tolleson in a save situation but it never came.
“It got to a place where it has been a little bit of a challenge,” he said of taking Gallardo out in the sixth. “[Dyson and Kela] cleaned it up. Now it’s down to Diekman and Tolly and we just weren’t able to get it to Tolly tonight.”
This story was originally published August 11, 2015 at 11:41 PM with the headline "Rangers can’t close door on Twins, get left out in cold."