The tie lasted barely long enough for the pitching change to become the story. With the Texas Rangers and Minnesota Twins level at 1-1 in the third inning, MacKenzie Gore departed after 2 1/3 innings, and Chase Silseth entered for Texas.
The Twins immediately put the new pitcher into a meaningful sequence. Luke Keaschall was hit by a pitch, Kaelen Culpepper struck out, and Josh Bell followed with a two-run homer that scored Keaschall. Ryan Jeffers then doubled before Robert Garcia replaced Silseth and retired Kody Clemens.
That stretch gave Minnesota a 3-1 lead, and the Twins held on for a 6-4 victory at Target Field on Sunday. The loss finished an 80-82 season for Texas. Seven Rangers pitched, compared with three Twins, and two of Texas’s changes quickly became expensive. Silseth and Junis inherited manageable situations, then gave Minnesota new ways to extend its lead.
Silseth’s appearance supplied the clearest example. Keaschall reached without a hit, then Bell’s home run brought him around. Jeffers followed with a ground-rule double, putting another runner in scoring position before the inning ended. Silseth faced four batters, recorded one strikeout and was charged with two earned runs. Garcia needed one batter to finish the frame, but the damage had already arrived.
The fifth inning widened the margin through a different kind of trouble. Tyler Alexander began the bottom half and allowed Walker Jenkins to single. Jakob Junis entered and walked Keaschall, then struck out Culpepper. Bell walked, and Jeffers walked as well, forcing Jenkins home and making the score 4-1.
Jordan Montgomery replaced Junis with the bases loaded. Kody Clemens singled, bringing home Keaschall for a 5-1 Minnesota lead. Keaschall’s run was charged to Junis, who had walked him. Montgomery recorded the final two outs of the inning and then worked through the sixth and seventh without allowing a run.
His line—2 2/3 innings, three strikeouts, two hits and no walks—is the necessary counterpoint. A bullpen assembled in pieces was not automatically doomed. Montgomery entered with three inherited runners and allowed one of them to score, then kept the Twins scoreless for the rest of his outing.
That was enough to keep the afternoon from becoming a rout, even if the offense could not make much use of the reprieve.
The larger problem was the number of pieces required. Gore faced nine batters and threw 25 pitches. Six relievers followed him—Silseth, Garcia, Alexander, Junis, Montgomery and Cody Bradford—giving Texas seven pitchers overall.
Minnesota received seven innings from Dean Kremer on 74 pitches. Kremer allowed three hits and one earned run, with four strikeouts and no walks, giving the Twins a far simpler route to the late innings.
That comparison matters because Texas repeatedly had to repair a game that had become more expensive. Danny Jansen’s third-inning homer tied the score at 1-1, but the Rangers did not add another run until Elias Díaz pinch-hit for Alejandro Osuna and homered to open the eighth. Jansen, Justin Foscue and Cody Freeman then made outs, ending the inning without a second Texas runner reaching base.
