Although the Twins made it a little interesting in the 9th inning, the Rangers finally managed to get out in front of a bad team and keep the lead through the entire game.
For the second game in a row, Twin manager Tom Kelly gambled on one of his pitchers getting Rafael Palmeiro out, and he lost. Last night, it was a two run double to give us this win. Today it was a three run home run to give us a 6-1 lead. Roberto Kelly also chimed in with two home runs of his own – the first off of Minnesota starter Brad Radke, who used to be a teammate of Roberto’s when Roberto played in Minnesota; Kelly had never faced him before.
Raffy’s 43rd home run of the year gives him a personal best for home runs in a season. Matter of fact, quite a few things happened in today’s ballgame:
- Raffy setting a new record for himself with 43 home runs in a season.
- The first time the Rangers have ever beat an opponent for the entire season (going 12-0 against the Twins in 99 – next closest was 11-1 against the 1975 Tigers)
- The first time any team has beat another in a season series 12-0 since 1996
- The Rangers beat the Twins in home runs this season against each other 21-5.
- Eight out of the 12 games against the Twins were decided by one or two runs.
- The 10th time this year the Twins failed to have 10,000 people in attendance at a game.
Since I listened to this at work, I couldn’t pay close attention to the game, unfortunately. It was nice to get a win, and head back to the 29 games over 500 mark. Our magic number is now 10, and could be 9 depending on what happens during tonight’s play.