39-44 - Dunning’s dud dooms Rangers to 6-5 loss to Twins

The Texas Rangers scored five runs but the Minnesota Twins scored six runs.

The Rangers weren’t even on the road so Dane Dunning didn’t have a built in excuse for his poor performance today. While he allowed his customary 1st inning run, he didn’t recover to even give Texas innings as he allowed four runs on six hits and four walks in 2 ¹⁄₃ innings in an outing that actually could have been much worse.

Dunning is also lucky to not be saddled with the loss as the Texas bats tied the game at three runs apiece and then again at 4-4 before the Twins scored the next two runs while being wise enough to allow the Rangers to get within one run therefore making it impossible for them to win.

The loss prevents a sweep for Texas but I suppose you can’t be too mad with an overall series win against a first place team.

Player of the Game: With Texas trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the second, the Rangers loaded the bases for Josh Smith and he unloaded them with a double that tied the game momentarily.

The youngster also drew a walk and played some nice defense for Texas on the afternoon.

Up Next: The Rangers welcome the Athletics to Arlington for a series with RHP Spencer Howard set to make the start in the opener for Texas against RHP Adrian Martinez for Oakland.

Monday night’s first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 7:05 pm CDT.