Twins rally past Rangers 8-5

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -- The last time the Minnesota Twins visited Texas they were swept by the stumbling Rangers.

The Twins made sure that wouldn't happen again.

Doug Mientkiewicz had four hits, Shannon Stewart drove in two runs and the Twins rallied past the Rangers 8-5 Friday night.

"The last time we were here we took a pounding," said closer Eddie Guardado, who got three outs for his 30th save in 33 chances. "We weren't playing good baseball then and we had to regroup. Now we're doing things right."

Matthew LeCroy homered for the Twins, who capitalized on three walks, a wild pitch and a hit batter in a three-run eighth inning. Mientkiewicz went 4-for-5, matching his career high for hits. Minnesota also was the beneficiary of two Texas errors.

"The guys kept battling their tails off," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "This is the fun part of the year. We don't care if it's pretty or ugly. We're trying to get games in the left-hand column."

The Twins moved within a half-game of the AL Central co-leaders Chicago and Kansas City. Both the White Sox and Royals lost Friday night.

"You can say no, but you watch," said Gardenhire when asked if the Twins are scoreboard watching. "The longer the race goes, the pressure becomes deeper. It's nice to see the other teams take a whack."

Rookie Laynce Nix had a three-run homer for the Rangers, who have lost seven of eight. They also learned before the game that slugger Juan Gonzalez probably won't play again this season because of a lingering right calf injury.

Rangers starter John Thomson (12-11) carried a 5-3 advantage into the eighth before the Twins came back against Thomson and two relievers.

Minnesota got to 5-4 against Thomson when Stewart doubled and scored on Mientkiewicz's single.

Thomson walked LeCroy, and reliever Ron Mahay walked Jacques Jones to load the bases.

Mahay's wild pitch scored Mientkiewicz from third to tie the game at 5. After Mahay intentionally walked Torii Hunter to reload the bases, Rangers manager Buck Showalter brought in Brian Shouse, who hit Pierzynski with a 3-0 pitch to force in pinch-runner Dustan Mohr and give the Twins a 6-5 edge.

Rookie Grant Balfour (1-0) allowed two hits in two shutout innings of relief for his first major league decision.

Minnesota got six innings of five-hit shutout relief from Carlos Pulido, Balfour, LaTroy Hawkins and Guardado. Pulido made his first major league appearance since Aug. 7, 1994. The eight full seasons between major league appearances were the longest since Minnie Minoso went from 1964 to 1976 between stints with the White Sox.

Thomson allowed six runs and eight hits over 7 2-3 innings.

"John pitched well enough to win, that's the frustrating part," Showalter said.

The Rangers jumped on Twins starter Joe Mays with a four-run third inning to take a 5-1 lead on Alex Rodriguez's sacrifice fly and Nix's fifth homer.

Mays allowed five runs and five hits over three innings. Mays was angry after the game when Gardenhire told him he was going to the bullpen.

Gardenhire was upset because Mays checked the Twins defensive chart after the second inning to see why Todd Greene's single wasn't caught.

"That's not right," Gardenhire said. "He's worried about where the ball landed. I think he lost concentration. That's why he gave up the home run (to Nix). We're not going to have that. This is a team. I talked to him and I think he understands."

Minnesota took a 1-0 lead in the second on LeCroy's 15th homer.

Texas tied it at 1 in the second when Mark Texiera tripled and scored on Greene's single.

The Twins reduced the deficit to 5-3 in the fifth on Stewart's two-run single.

Minnesota padded its lead to 8-5 with a two-run ninth as Texas committed two errors on the scoring play.

With runners on first and second, Mientkiewicz singled and Spencer threw wildly to the plate as Chris Gomez scored from second. Greene recovered the ball and threw toward third in an attempt to catch Luis Rivas, but his off-target throw allowed Rivas to score.

MINNESOTA TEXAS

ab r h bi ab r h bi

ShStwrt rf 5 2 2 2 MYong 2b 5 1 1 0

Rivas 2b 5 1 1 0 Blalock 3b 4 0 2 0

Mntkw 1b 5 1 4 1 ARdrgz ss 3 0 0 1

LeCroy dh 3 1 1 1 RPlmo dh 4 1 1 0

Mohr dh 1 1 0 0 Spncer lf 3 1 1 0

JJones lf 3 0 0 0 Nix rf 3 1 1 3

THnter cf 4 0 1 0 Txeira 1b 4 1 2 0

Przyns c 3 1 0 1 Greene c 4 0 2 1

Hcking 3b 4 1 1 0 Nivar cf 4 0 0 0

CGzmn ss 2 0 0 0

Ryan ph 1 0 0 0

Gomez ss 1 0 1 0

Totals 37 8 11 5 Totals 34 5 10 5

Minnesota 010 020 032 -- 8

Texas 014 000 000 -- 5

E--Spencer (3), Greene (4). DP--Minnesota 2, Texas 1. LOB--Minnesota 7, Texas 6. 2B--ShStewart (35), MYoung (27), RPalmeiro (18). 3B--Teixeira (4). HR--LeCroy (15), Nix (5). SF--ARodriguez.

IP H R ER BB SO

Minnesota

Mays 3 5 5 5 2 1

Pulido 2 2 0 0 0 1

Balfour W,1-0 2 1 0 0 1 1

Hawkins 1 2 0 0 0 2

Guardado S,30 1 0 0 0 0 1

Texas

Thomson L,12-11 7 2-3 8 6 6 1 2

Mahay 0 0 0 0 2 0

BShouse 2-3 3 2 1 0 1

Garcia 2-3 0 0 0 1 0

Mahay pitched to 2 batters in the 8th.

HBP--by BShouse (Pierzynski). WP--Mahay.

Umpires--Home, Jay Klemm; First, Tim Timmons; Second, Mike Reilly; Third, Eric Cooper.

T--2:39. A--18,118 (49,115).