TEXAS 4, MINNESOTA 1 IN TEXAS

Date:  Wednesday, July 9.

Batting star:  Torii Hunter was 1-for-4 with a home run, his thirteenth.

Pitching star:  LaTroy Hawkins pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.

Opposition stars:  Joaquin Benoit pitched seven innings, giving up one run on four hits and three walks and striking out five.  Ryan Ludwick was 2-for-3 with a double.  Alex Rodriguez was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his twenty-second) and a walk.  Mark Teixiera was 1-for-3 with a home run (his twelfth).

The game:  Teixiera homered in the second inning to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead.  The Twins did not mount a threat until the fifth, when Dustan Mohr hit a one-out double.  He got to third with two down, but was stranded there.  In the sixth, however, Hunter hit a two-out homer to tie it 1-1.

That was as good as it got for the Twins.  In the bottom of the sixth, Donnie Sadler walked and Rodriguez followed with a two-run homer.  In the seventh, Ludwick doubled and scored on a Michael Young single.  The Twins got a man to second in the seventh and eighth, but did not bring the tying run up to bat.

WP:  Benoit (4-4).  LP:  Kenny Rogers (7-5).  S:  Ugueth Urbina (26).

Notes:  Mohr remained in left and Bobby Kielty in right in the continued absence of Jacque Jones.  Justin Morneau was the DH.

The Twins had no one batting over .300 in their lineup.  The highest average was Doug Mientkiewicz at .296.

Rogers didn't pitch badly other than the home runs.  His line was seven innings, four runs, seven hits, three walks, and one strikeout.

Hawkins lowered his ERA to 1.79.

By stifling the Twins offense, Benoit lowered his ERA to 5.27.  A month later he would be out of the rotation.  By 2005 he became a full-time reliever, and he had some very good years out of the bullpen.  For his career, he was 14-19, 6.06, 1.58 WHIP as a starter.  As a reliever, he was 44-30, 53 saves, 2.06, 1.12 WHIP.  He only had one season when he was the closer, 2013 for Detroit, but was a valuable member of major league bullpens for several years.  I think we can say he found his niche.

The Twins had lost four in a row and eight of nine.  They fell below .500 for the first time since April.

Record:  The Twins were 44-45, in second place in the American League Central, 4.5 games behind Kansas City.  They remained one game ahead of third-place Chicago.