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Wednesday, Jun. 21 8:35pm ET
Radke on losing end again vs. Loaiza | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -- Dave Martinez picked the right time to snap his 0-for-20 slump with the Texas Rangers. Martinez delivered a two-run double in the fifth inning as the Rangers beat the Minnesota Twins 7-5 Wednesday night. It was their third victory in four games after a nine-game losing streak. Martinez's double in the fifth, on a hard-hit grounder that ricocheted off the foot of Minnesota shortstop Cristian Guzman into the outfield, snapped a 3-3 tie and put the Rangers ahead for good. "I knew I hit it pretty hard, but I thought it was going to be one of those right-at-them hits. When I saw it hit his shoe, I was happy ... I'll take a hit like that any day," Martinez said. "It feels real good, but it feels a lot better to win two in a row." Martinez was thrown out trying to stretch his hit into a triple, but only after Rafael Palmeiro and David Segui scored. Martinez's slump began after he went 5-for-9 after being acquired by Texas from the Chicago Cubs in a three-team trade June 9. "It will maybe relax him a little bit," Texas manager Johnny Oates said. "He's just getting too deep in the count a little bit, getting behind in the count and making it tough. But he hit the ball well. Thank goodness Guzman couldn't come up with it." Esteban Loaiza (4-5) pitched six innings and won for the first time in five starts. He has won four straight against the Twins, three against Brad Radke (4-9). John Wetteland allowed one run in the ninth before recording his 18th save in 22 opportunities. Bob Wells, Radke's replacement an inning later, set an American League record for a pitcher with four fielding chances in an inning. He made two errors and had assists on the only two outs he recorded. Wells had half of the four Minnesota errors, which led to three unearned runs. "We had a rough night, too many mistakes in the field," said Minnesota manager Tom Kelly, who during his postgame interview sported a T-shirt bearing the phrase "WHATTA JOKE." "We can't give that team, or any other team, that kind of help and expect to win." Wells dropped the infield popup by Gabe Kapler, the first batter he faced. While he got the next two batters on 1-3 groundouts, he also threw a ball into center field while trying to pick off Kapler at second with nobody covering. Wells was then pulled after a walk and RBI single by Ivan Rodriguez. Radke, 2-8 in his career against Texas, allowed five runs on eight hits over five innings. He struck out two and walked two. Loaiza, 0-3 with a no-decision in his previous four starts, allowed four runs on eight hits in his six innings. He struck out three and walked two. Corey Koskie, 13-for-26 (.500) against the Rangers this season, hit a solo homer off Loaiza in the sixth. He also hit an RBI single in the second. Segui also scored the first two Texas runs, both after he reached with a double. After his double in the second, Segui scored on Mike Lamb's RBI double. Segui led off the fourth with another double and scored when Guzman made a throwing error on Kapler's grounder that would have ended the inning. Royce Clayton followed with an RBI single to make it 3-2. Minnesota quickly got back even with an unearned run in the fifth. Matt Lawton hit an apparent double-play ball, but Clayton made an errant throw to first after getting the first out. David Ortiz followed with an RBI double. Rusty Greer added an RBI single in the eighth to give the Rangers a 7-4 lead. Guzman hit his major league-leading 13th triple, and scored on Lawton's RBI infield single off Wetteland in the ninth to make it 7-5.
Game notes | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Minnesota Clubhouse Texas Clubhouse RECAPS Boston 9 NY Yankees 7
Texas 7
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