Game 107: Aug 4, 1999 (W: 3-1)
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My Commentary

Due to my clueless cable company, and Fox Sports Southwest, I didn't get to see the game.  I wasn't in the mood to listen to it on the radio, since I was so annoyed about that - I ended up watching "The Fifth Element" on DVD instead.

I did peek in from time to time to get a score update, and from all reports Loaiza was Loaiza.  Was inconsistent, but had good stuff.  Where have we heard that before?  I feel comfortable about our starting pitching.  It isn't the greatest in the world, but it seems to be doing a decent enough of a job, especially with our pen doing so great.  We're now 23 games over 500, a number I never thought I'd see given my opinion of the state of the pitching at the start of the season.

After seeing the Twins for the last few days, I have to admit, I rather like Jacque Jones - he looks like a great kid, and if I was living in Minnesota, I'd be excited about seeing the team, even if they lose a lot.  I like watching teams made up of young kids who try.

I'm really hoping we can keep this up the last two months, and end up with a situation where we don't have to play the Yankees in the first round with the first two games in NY.  Off day tomorrow, and then we're back with more against the Toronto Blue Jays, who have made some recent noise in the AL East.  

-- Joe Siegler

Game Recap

ARLINGTON, TEXAS (TICKER) -- The Texas Rangers will not be happy to see the Minnesota Twins leave the Lone Star State.

Esteban Loaiza and two relievers combined on a four-hitter as the Rangers remained perfect against the hapless Twins this season with a 3-1 victory.

Texas improved to 10-0 against Minnesota and has won 11 straight in the series dating to the end of last year. The sizzling Rangers improved to a major league-best 17-3 since the All-Star break and at 65-42 share the best record in baseball with the Cleveland Indians.

The Rangers and Indians are one percentage point ahead of the New York Mets, who have one more victory.

"Let's don't take it for granted," said Texas outfielder Rusty Greer, who went 3-for-3. "Let's enjoy it while we have it going. For this ballclub, we have to go with the objective to first get to the playoffs."

Texas finished 6-0 at home against Minnesota and is 4-0 at the Metrodome, where the teams conclude the season series with two games on September 14-15. The Rangers opened a nine-game bulge over second-place Oakland in the American League West.

The winning streak against the Twins is the longest for the Rangers against one club since they took 13 straight from the Indians from April 26, 1978-April 17, 1979.

Texas moved 23 games over .500 for the first since the end of the 1977 campaign, when it was a club-record 26 games over at 94-68.

"It's a different guy every night," Rangers shortstop Royce Clayton said. "Rusty has three hits tonight and Pudge (Rodriguez) has been hot. The key for us is not thinking about anything except winning games."

The Twins cooled off Rodriguez, who was 0-for-4 to snap a 12-game hitting streak. He was 11-for-15 in his previous three contests and batted .545 (30-for-55) during the streak.

But that was about the only thing the Twins did right in the three-game series.

"You have to tip your hat to the Rangers," Minnesota manager Tom Kelly said. "We played hard all three games, but they are on a good roll."

Loaiza (4-1) earned his fourth straight victory, allowing two hits over six innings -- both to Marty Cordova -- with five walks and two strikeouts.

"I'm just trying to do my best, give up fewer hits and fewer walks," Loaiza said. "We're all happy with the win today and I got my fourth win. We want to be successful, and everybody's doing the best job possible."

After tossing a scoreless seventh, Jeff Zimmerman surrendered a solo homer to Denny Hocking in the eighth, the second time in as many outings the rookie righthander has given up a run. He had his scoreless streak stopped at 29 2/3 innings on Monday.

John Wetteland recorded the final three outs for his major league-leading 33rd save in 40 chacnes and seventh straight. He yielded a one-out double to Corey Koskie.

"If I had a vote, I'd say they're the best team in baseball, Hocking said. "They remind me a lot of the Yankees when Wetteland closed for them. They make it a six-inning game. These guys are playing for a purpose. We didn't come in here and play badly."

Brad Radke (8-10) suffered the loss, allowing three runs and nine hits over 6 1/3 innings.

Radke and Loaiza matched zeroes until Texas broke through for a run in the bottom of the sixth. Greer singled with one out, took third on Juan Gonzalez's single and scored on Rafael Palmeiro's sacrifice fly.

"I think the big thing we're doing is when we have an opportunity to drive in a run, we've done so," Greer said.

The Rangers made it 3-0 in the seventh. Rookie Ruben Mateo and Clayton reached on infield hits, moved up on stolen bases and came home on Mark McLemore's two-run single.

Minnesota threatened in the sixth as rookie Jacque Jones and Todd Walker walked with one out and Cordova singled to load the bases. Loaiza escaped his only jam by getting Koskie to ground into an inning-ending double play.

The Twins have lost four in a row following a four-game winning streak.

Photos
(Click on any of them for a larger image)

Esteban Loaiza with Denny Hocking looking on	Todd Zeile misses the tag at third	Raffy fouls off a ball in the 6th...	..then sac flies in Rusty for an RBI

Box Score

Line Score
AL  FINAL
                    1  2  3   4  5  6   7  8  9     R  H  E
                    -  -  -   -  -  -   -  -  -     -  -  -
MINNESOTA           0  0  0   0  0  0   0  1  0     1  4  0
TEXAS               0  0  0   0  0  1   2  0  x     3 10  0   (FINAL)

BATTERIES:  MIN - BRAD RADKE, HECTOR CARRASCO (7TH), EDDIE
                  GUARDADO (7TH), BOB WELLS (7TH), MIKE TROMBLEY
                  (8TH) AND TERRY STEINBACH
            TEX - ESTEBAN LOAIZA, JEFF ZIMMERMAN (7TH), JOHN
                  WETTELAND (9TH) AND IVAN RODRIGUEZ

             WP - ESTEBAN LOAIZA (4-1)
             LP - BRAD RADKE (8-10)
           SAVE - JOHN WETTELAND (33)

HOME RUNS:  MIN - DENNY HOCKING (5) OFF JE ZIMMERMAN IN THE 8TH, 0 ON
            TEX - NONE

     TIME:  2:43     ATT:  29,224

PROBABLES:  MIN - ERIC MILTON (4-8, 4.93)
            KAN - DAN REICHERT (1-0, 16.07)

            TOR - CHRIS CARPENTER (7-5, 3.64)
            TEX - RICK HELLING (8-7, 4.36)

Box Score
MINNESOTA (1) AT TEXAS (3) - FINAL

MINNESOTA              ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
J Jones cf              3  0  0  0   1  0   1  .298
C Guzman ss             2  0  0  0   1  2   0  .240
T Walker dh             3  0  0  0   1  0   2  .295
M Cordova rf            4  0  2  0   0  0   0  .296
Koskie 3b               3  0  1  0   1  0   4  .300
Allen lf                4  0  0  0   0  0   3  .282
Steinbach c             4  0  0  0   0  1   2  .310
Mientkiewicz 1b         3  0  0  0   0  0   0  .223
Hocking 2b              2  1  1  1   1  0   0  .279

Totals                 28  1  4  1   5  3  12

BATTING: 2B - Koskie (11, Wetteland). HR - Hocking (5, 8th inning
off Je Zimmerman 0 on, 0 out). S - C Guzman. RBI - Hocking (27).
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - T Walker 1, Steinbach 1.
GIDP - Koskie. Team LOB - 6.

FIELDING: DP: 1 (C Guzman-Mientkiewicz).

TEXAS                  ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
Mclemore 2b             3  0  1  2   1  0   1  .282
I Rodriguez c           4  0  0  0   0  0   2  .332
Greer lf                3  1  3  0   1  0   0  .285
J Gonzalez rf           4  0  1  0   0  0   4  .307
R Palmeiro dh           3  0  0  1   0  0   1  .342
Zeile 3b                4  0  2  0   0  0   2  .309
L Stevens 1b            4  0  0  0   0  2   2  .277
Mateo cf                4  1  2  0   0  0   2  .238
 R Kelly cf             0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .317
Clayton ss              3  1  1  0   0  0   1  .251

Totals                 32  3 10  3   2  2  15

BATTING: 2B - Greer (33, B Radke). SF - R Palmeiro. RBI - R Palmeiro (92),
Mclemore 2 (32). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - J Gonzalez 2,
Zeile 1. GIDP - I Rodriguez. Team LOB - 8.

BASERUNNING: SB - Mateo (3, 2nd base off B Radke/Steinbach);
Clayton (8, 2nd base off B Radke/Steinbach).

FIELDING: DP: 2 (Mclemore-L Stevens, Mclemore-Clayton-L Stevens).

MINNESOTA                    ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
B Radke (L, 8-10)             6 1/3   9   3   3   1   1   0   3.60
Carrasco                        1/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   8.68
Guardado                      0       0   0   0   1   0   0   4.94
B Wells                         1/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   4.09
Trombley                      1       1   0   0   0   1   0   3.88

TEXAS                        ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
Loaiza (W, 4-1)               6       2   0   0   5   2   0   5.68
Je Zimmerman (H, 18)          2       1   1   1   0   1   1   0.99
Wetteland (S, 33)             1       1   0   0   0   0   0   4.57

Guardado pitched to 1 batter in the 7th.

IBB - T Walker (by Loaiza).  Pitches-strikes: Loaiza 85-44;
Je Zimmerman 23-17; Wetteland 16-11; B Radke 97-64; Carrasco 3-1;
Guardado 5-1; B Wells 1-1; Trombley 12-8.  Ground balls-fly balls:
Loaiza 7-8; Je Zimmerman 3-2; Wetteland 2-1; B Radke 7-11; Carrasco
0-1; Guardado 0-0; B Wells 0-1; Trombley 0-2. Batters faced: Loaiza 23;
Je Zimmerman 7; Wetteland 4; B Radke 28; Carrasco 1; Guardado 1;
B Wells 1; Trombley 4.

UMPIRES: HP--Derryl Cousins. 1B--Joe Brinkman. 2B--John Shulock.
3B--Dale Scott.
T--2:43.  Att--29,224.   Weather: 94 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 9 mph, left to right.

Game Log

Minnesota Starting Lineups -- Jacque Jones CF, Cristian Guzman SS, Todd Walker DH, Marty Cordova RF, Corey Koskie 3B, Chad Allen LF, Terry Steinbach C, Doug Mientkiewicz 1B, Denny Hocking 2B, Brad Radke RHP.

Texas Starting Lineups -- Mark Mclemore 2B, Ivan Rodriguez C, Rusty Greer LF, Juan Gonzalez RF, Rafael Palmeiro DH, Todd Zeile 3B, Lee Stevens 1B, Ruben Mateo CF, Royce Clayton SS, Esteban Loaiza RHP.

Umpires -- Cousins (HP), Brinkman (1B), Shulock (2B), Scott (3B).

Gametime Weather: 94 degrees, Partly Cloudy, wind left to right at 9 mph.

MINNESOTA 1ST: J Jones flied out to center. C Guzman struck out swinging. T Walker grounded out to second. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) MINNESOTA 0, TEXAS 0.

TEXAS 1ST: Mclemore flied out to left. I Rodriguez flied out to right. Greer doubled to left. J Gonzalez flied out to left. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) MINNESOTA 0, TEXAS 0.

MINNESOTA 2ND: M Cordova singled to left. Koskie flied out to deep left. Allen flied out to shallow right. Steinbach grounded into fielder's choice to shortstop, M Cordova out at second. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) MINNESOTA 0, TEXAS 0.

TEXAS 2ND: R Palmeiro fouled out to first. Zeile singled to center. L Stevens flied out to right. Mateo grounded into fielder's choice to shortstop, Zeile out at second. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) MINNESOTA 0, TEXAS 0.

MINNESOTA 3RD: Mientkiewicz lined out to third. Hocking walked. J Jones flied out to deep left. C Guzman walked, Hocking to second. T Walker grounded out to second. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) MINNESOTA 0, TEXAS 0.

TEXAS 3RD: Clayton grounded out to shortstop. Mclemore walked. I Rodriguez grounded into double play, shortstop to first, Mclemore out at second. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) MINNESOTA 0, TEXAS 0.

MINNESOTA 4TH: M Cordova lined out to second. Koskie walked. Allen lined into double play, second to first, Koskie doubled off first. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) MINNESOTA 0, TEXAS 0.

TEXAS 4TH: Greer singled to left. J Gonzalez flied out to center. R Palmeiro flied out to left. Zeile grounded out to third. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) MINNESOTA 0, TEXAS 0.

MINNESOTA 5TH: Steinbach struck out swinging. Mientkiewicz flied out to left center. Hocking grounded out to second. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) MINNESOTA 0, TEXAS 0.

TEXAS 5TH: L Stevens grounded out to second. Mateo singled to right. Clayton flied out to right center. Mclemore flied out to shallow center. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) MINNESOTA 0, TEXAS 0.

MINNESOTA 6TH: J Jones walked. C Guzman sacrificed J Jones to second. T Walker intentionally walked. M Cordova reached on infield single, J Jones to third, T Walker to second. Koskie grounded into double play, second to shortstop to first, M Cordova out at second. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) MINNESOTA 0, TEXAS 0.

TEXAS 6TH: I Rodriguez grounded out to shortstop. Greer singled to right. J Gonzalez singled to center, Greer to third. R Palmeiro hit sacrifice fly to deep center, Greer scored, J Gonzalez to second. Zeile fouled out to first. (1 Run, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) MINNESOTA 0, TEXAS 1.

MINNESOTA 7TH: Jeff Zimmerman relieved Esteban Loaiza. Allen grounded out to shortstop. Steinbach popped out to shortstop. Mientkiewicz grounded out to first. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) MINNESOTA 0, TEXAS 1.

TEXAS 7TH: L Stevens struck out swinging. Mateo reached on infield single. Mateo stole second. Clayton reached on infield single, Mateo to third. Clayton stole second. Mclemore singled to right, Mateo and Clayton scored. Hector Carrasco relieved Brad Radke. I Rodriguez fouled out to catcher. Eddie Guardado relieved Hector Carrasco. Greer walked, Mclemore to second. Bob Wells relieved Eddie Guardado. J Gonzalez lined out to second. (2 Runs, 3 Hits, 0 Errors) MINNESOTA 0, TEXAS 3.

MINNESOTA 8TH: Hocking homered to right. J Jones grounded out to second. C Guzman struck out looking. T Walker popped out to shortstop. (1 Run, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) MINNESOTA 1, TEXAS 3.

TEXAS 8TH: Mike Trombley relieved Bob Wells. R Palmeiro flied obut to shallow left. Zeile singled to center. L Stevens struck out swinging. Mateo flied out to shallow right. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) MINNESOTA 1, TEXAS 3.

MINNESOTA 9TH: John Wetteland relieved Jeff Zimmerman. R Kelly in center. M Cordova flied out to shallow right. Koskie doubled to shallow right. Allen grounded out to shortstop. Steinbach grounded out to second. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) MINNESOTA 1, TEXAS 3.