12-19 - A Minor miracle as Rangers beat league-best Dodgers 6-2

Mike Minor has struggled all season with differentiating his fastball and his changeup and with having the stamina to last deep into games. Tonight, against the best offense in baseball, Minor did not have those problems.

In his best outing of the season, Minor went six innings and allowed zero runs on just four hits and three walks. Minor also, importantly, struck out six Dodgers during his 93 pitches. The only reason Minor isn’t a winning pitcher for the first time this season is the Dodgers rallied to even the score in the inning after Minor was lifted.

One half inning after the Dodgers tied the game, the Rangers scored four runs off a tough Los Angeles bullpen. Texas didn’t commit an error on the night, made some nice plays in the field — including Leody Taveras robbing Justin Turner of a three-run home run in the top of the third — and were able to score a bountiful six runs on eleven hits.

Tonight’s contest was arguably the best the Rangers have played in any one game this season and they needed to do that since they were playing the best team in the sport. I wouldn’t have guessed that it would be the Rangers to put the tenth loss on the now 24-10 Dodgers this season but tonight showed that if you play good baseball, anything can happen.

Player of the Game: Aside from Minor, Shin-Soo Choo doubled in Taveras for the game’s first run and plated an insurance run in the big seventh inning to help the Rangers take the win. It’s possible that this is the final few games for Choo in Texas, and, if so, it’s been a pleasure.

Up Next: The Rangers and Dodgers are back at it on Saturday with Lance Lynn making what could be his final start for Texas against RHP Ross Stripling for Los Angeles. First pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 6:05 pm CT.