Texas Rangers vs Minnesota Twins Match Player Stats On Jul 06, 2019

Marwin Gonzalez homered, Miguel Sano tripled and scored twice, and Jason Castro drove in three runs to lead the Minnesota Twins to a 7-4 victory over the Texas Rangers on Saturday afternoon in Minneapolis.

Gonzalez's home run was the 166th of the season for the Twins, matching the team's entire total for the 2018 season while also extending their major league record for home runs before the All-Star break.

Byron Buxton also drove in two runs and Jorge Polanco added two hits for Minnesota.

Michael Pineda (6-4) won his second consecutive start, allowing one run on five hits over six innings while finishing with a season-high nine strikeouts. It marked the 13th time in 17 starts this season that Pineda allowed three or fewer earned runs.

Taylor Rogers picked up his 12th save with 2 1/3 innings of hitless relief, striking out five.

Jesse Chavez (3-4) suffered the loss, allowing five runs (four earned) on five hits and two walks over five innings. Chavez, who entered the contest with a 2-0 record and 2.35 ERA in 11 career appearances and three starts against the Twins, struck out three and also hit a batter.

Willie Calhoun and Elvis Andrus homered and Shin-Soo Choo went 3-for-4 with a double for Texas, which lost for the sixth time in seven games.

Minnesota took a 3-0 lead in the second inning on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Castro, driving in Luis Arraez, who had doubled, followed by a two-run single by Buxton.

The Twins extended their lead to 5-0 in the fourth when Sano led off with a triple off the center field fence and scored on a groundout by Jonathan Schoop. Castro added an RBI single, driving in LaMonte Wade Jr., who had walked.

Andrus led off the sixth inning with his eighth homer of the season, a 388-foot drive that barely cleared the fence in left-center. Wade jammed his glove into the fence on the play and left the contest with a right thumb dislocation.

The Rangers cut it to 5-4 in the seventh with three runs off reliever Tyler Duffey. Asdrubal Cabrera led off with a single, went to second on a balk, then scored on a single by Jeff Mathis. Calhoun followed one out later with his fifth homer of the season into the right field bleachers.

Gonzalez, who entered the game in the sixth to replace Wade, became the 10th Twins' hitter to reach double-digits in home runs with his 10th in the eighth off reliever Shawn Kelley to make it 6-4. Castro added an RBI double later in the inning, driving in Schoop, who had singled.

--Field Level Media