For one inning, the Rangers had the right recipe. Brandon Nimmo opened Friday night in Minneapolis with a double, Josh Jung was hit by a pitch, and Corey Seager followed with a single that scored Nimmo and moved Jung to third. Wyatt Langford then grounded out softly, bringing Jung home.
That was useful baseball: an extra-base hit, traffic on the bases, a middle-order single and a productive out. Texas led 2-0, with two runs on two hits and only one out recorded.
Instead, the first inning became an isolated display of what the offense could do. Texas lost 10-2 to Minnesota at Target Field, producing runners later without the connected contact needed to bring them around. The chances were real. The continuity vanished.
The fifth inning offered the clearest example. Joe Ryan had retired 10 straight Texas batters after Jake Burger’s forceout ended the first. Danny Jansen finally broke that run with a one-out single. Nimmo then struck out, but Alejandro Osuna was hit by a pitch, putting two Rangers aboard with two outs.
Seager, who had supplied the first-inning RBI, grounded out to end the threat. Jansen remained at second and Osuna at first. Texas had recreated part of its opening formula—a hit followed by another way to reach base—but the inning stopped before the lineup could find its connecting blow.
That was partly Ryan’s work. The Minnesota starter allowed four hits and two runs over six innings, striking out eight and walking one. After the opening trouble, he retired 10 consecutive Texas batters before Jansen’s single, then handled the fifth-inning traffic without giving up the lead.
A pitcher who has just watched the opposing lineup score twice in the first can make the next few innings uncomfortable; Ryan made them mostly uneventful.
The sixth was less orderly and just as empty. Langford grounded out to start the frame, then Ezequiel Duran singled. Nicky Lopez struck out, and Jake Burger walked, leaving runners at first and second with two outs. Carter struck out on a foul tip. Texas challenged, seeking a hit-by-pitch call, but the strikeout stood.
That sequence mattered because Texas needed several runs to make the game competitive. A timely single would at least have begun cutting into Minnesota’s lead. Instead, the fifth and sixth combined for two hits, a hit batter, a walk and no runs. The Rangers had put men aboard in both innings, then stranded them when the next hit could have cut into Minnesota’s lead.
The contrast with Minnesota’s second inning was severe. Josh Bell walked, Ryan Jeffers and Walker Jenkins singled, and Royce Lewis followed with a single that scored two runs. Emmanuel Rodriguez struck out, but Ryan Kreidler’s bunt single brought home Jenkins.
