SportsDirect Inc. Ad
SportsDirect Inc. Ad
SportsDirect Inc. Ad
Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Texas 4, Minnesota 1
When: 8:10 PM ET, Friday, April 13, 2012
Where: Target Field, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Temperature: 49°
Umpires: Home - Ed Hickox, 1B - Ed Rapuano, 2B - Cory Blaser, 3B - Jerry Layne
Attendance: 31400

Rangers 4, Twins 1: Matt Harrison held Minnesota to one run over eight innings to keep up Texas' run of dominant starting pitching, and Ian Kinsler hit his fourth home run to help visiting Texas win the opener of a three-game series.

Minnesota had the tying run at the plate with no outs in the ninth before Alexi Ogando retired three straight for his first career save.

The Twins had broken out of an early season slump by scoring 16 runs in consecutive wins after managing only six while losing their first four games. But they had no such luck against Harrison (2-0), who struck out four, gave up seven hits and didn't allow a run after Danny Valencia's sacrifice fly in the second.

The left-hander has won six of his last seven regular-season starts and hasn't lost since Aug. 24, 2011.

Texas scored three runs in the fourth on RBI singles by Adrian Beltre and Michael Young and a sacrifice fly by David Murphy.

Kinsler added his home run in the seventh, matching Minnesota's Josh Willingham for the major-league lead.

All four Texas runs came against starter Anthony Swarzak (0-2), who allowed nine hits over seven innings.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Harrison posted the Rangers' seventh quality start, most in the majors. Rangers starters have failed to record a quality start only once. … Swarzak might have been pitching for his spot in the rotation, with fellow right-hander Jason Marquis expected to return next week. … Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus went 3-for-4 for his first multi-hit game of the season, raising his average from .125 to .214. … The Twins have scored two or fewer runs in all of their five losses.

Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Texas   Minnesota
Matt Harrison Player Anthony Swarzak
Win W/L Loss
8.0 IP 7.0
4 Strikeouts 3
7 Hits 9
1.12 ERA 5.14
Hitting
Texas   Minnesota
Elvis Andrus Player Ryan Doumit
3 Hits 2
0 RBI 0
0 HR 0
4 TB 2
.750 Avg .500
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Texas 9 1 13 .250 14 5 4 0 0 0
Minnesota 8 0 10 .250 14 5 1 2 0 1