Twins, Cole DeVries Look Good Through Seven in Loss to Rangers

If I was not a born and raised native of Minnesota and had been born in a state without a team to call mine, I think it would have been pretty easy to fall in love with the Rangers. I've always kind of liked them, but have maintained strong loyalties to the Twins, of course.

The Rangers overcame a 3-0 deficit in the 9th to win 4-3 in 13 innings over the Twins. Ian Kinsler lined a game-winning single in the 13th inning for the AL West-leading Texas Rangers.

Cole DeVries pitched seven scoreless innings on a great performance. I love seeing a Twins starting pitcher actually do well. :) Casey Fien followed up with a great performance as well.

The Twins were an out away from shutting out the Rangers at Arlington. That never happens... especially to the Twins. Minnesota had padded a 1-0 lead in the top of the ninth with two unearned runs off Joe Nathan. Then, Kinsler led off the ninth reaching on a two-base throwing error. Glen Perkins threw a wild pitch. Elvis Andrus then had an RBI groundout before Hamilton popped out to third base.

After losing five straight, the Twins managed to give the Rangers back to back 4-3 wins in extra innings. The Rangers are very easy to like. Even when you are on the other side.

Despite my disappointment we didn't at least win the series, I am proud of the Twins for giving the Rangers a run for their money. After all, the Rangers have eight players going to the All Star game. That is almost enough for one team. The Twins have one.

Mauer Makes All Star Team

Joe Mauer was selected to the American League All-Star game after finishing second in fan balloting to the Texas Rangers catcher Mike Napoli. Mauer finished with 2,922,422, while Napoli tallied 4,317,718.

Josh Willingham and Scott Diamond were potential candidates to represent the Twins. Willingham (LF) has 17 home runs and leads the Twins with 55 RBIs. Diamond has the lowest ERA among Twins starters, at 2.61. Both players were passed over as reserves.

Mauer is batting .324 with four homers and 36 RBIs.