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MINNEAPOLIS -- Texas closer Joakim Soria bobbled a slow-bouncing ball hit by Minnesotas Danny Santana to the left of the mound with two outs and the bases loaded in the ninth inning, allowing the winning run to score in the Twins 4-3 victory over the Rangers on Tuesday night. Custom Angels Jersey . The day began ominously for the Rangers when star pitcher Yu Darvish was scratched from his scheduled start with stiffness in his neck. Fill-in Scott Baker gave up three hits over six innings and Chris Gimenez hit a tiebreaking two-out RBI single in the sixth off Phil Hughes. But Soria (1-2) took his first blown save in nine chances with a shaky ninth inning patched together by the Twins, who ended their four-game losing streak. Oswaldo Arcia hit a one-out double off the wall in right-centre, just a few feet shy of where he homered off Baker in the second inning, and Eduardo Nunez tied the game with a two-out single. Then Nunez kept the rally alive with some nifty running. He moved up on the throw home that was up the line by right fielder Alex Rios. On a fielders choice grounder to Adrian Beltre, Nunez stopped short of the third basemans glove, scooted right and circled around to the bag before the tag. Then he scored the winning run when Santana ended the game with the softest of contact. Glen Perkins (2-0) pitched a scoreless ninth for the victory, stranding Rios after a leadoff triple that Santana, normally a shortstop, appeared to misplay in centre field and couldnt catch after getting twisted around. Hughes had his winning streak stopped at five. Over his last five turns, he had a 1.08 ERA and a 27-0 strikeout-walk ratio. Aaron Hicks saved Hughes from a huge deficit by sprinting to the warning track and snagging the ball with a perfectly timed leap above and beyond the centre field wall to steal a three-run homer from Donnie Murphy, who settled for a sacrifice fly. Rougned Odor followed with an RBI double to get one of those runs back. Shortstop Eduardo Escobar and left fielder Josh Willingham let a ball by Mitch Moreland bounce between them for a single to start the sixth. After giving up six runs in six innings in his only other start this season, last Friday at Detroit, Baker was supposed to resume a role as a long reliever. But he was in control the entire night. Baker was a second-round draft pick by the Twins in 2003 who spent five years in their rotation, including a 15-win season in 2009, but he developed elbow trouble and needed Tommy John ligament replacement surgery in 2012. So the last three years for the right-hander have been all about rehabilitation and re-establishing his place in the majors. The Rangers, who picked up Baker at the end of spring training, are his third team in two seasons. This was a stellar performance for him, even if hes bound to return to the bullpen soon. Baker didnt allow a walk and struck out four. He surrendered an RBI double to Joe Mauer with two outs in the third before retiring the last 10 batters he faced. NOTES: Rangers manager Ron Washington passed Bobby Valentine on the franchises all-time list for most games managed with 1,187. ... The Rangers will reinstate LHP Joe Saunders (0-1, 9.82) from the DL to start on Wednesday night, with RHP Kyle Gibson (4-4, 4.68 ERA) pitching for the Twins. ... Saunders was hit by a line drive on the left ankle in his first start on April 4, and after nearly two months of rehabilitation he will pitch with no restriction, Washington said. "The Minnesota Twins are going to tell us how limited hes going to be," he said. ... Gibson is 3-1 with a 2.25 ERA in four starts this year at home. ... Twins assistant GM Rob Antony said OF Sam Fuld, on the DL since May 8 due to concussion symptoms, has yet to resume on-field workouts, still lacking the three straight symptom-free days required for clearance.Nolan Ryan Authentic Jersey . Another is a bunch of groundballs. Finally, theres a game that lasts two hours six minutes. Pavano kept up his recent surge with an efficient six-hitter for the Twins in a 4-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night. C.J. Wilson Authentic Jersey . And this recent run of success also has general manager Bryan Murray re-thinking his plans for the near future with the March 5 trade deadline not too far away. MOSCOW -- Julia Lipnitskaia fell on her opening jump and put on what she called one of her biggest disappointments, but the 15-year-old Russian prodigy still edged out Carolina Kostner on Saturday by less than a point to win the Rostelecom Cup, the last of the seasons six preliminary Grand Prix events. American Mirai Nagasu took bronze. In pairs, Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany won gold, Russians Vera Bazarova and Yuri Larionov took silver, and Canadas pair of Kirsten Moore-Towers of St. Catharines, Ont., and Dylan Moscovitch of Toronto won bronze. Lipnitskaia also won Skate Canada, and her second victory of the season means she qualified for the Grand Prix Final -- which she missed last year due to injury. Kostner and Nagasu wont make the final. "Im happy to qualify for the final with two victories, but Im very dissatisfied with today. It was most likely my worst performance ever in competition," she said. "I made a mistake on the first jump and wasnt able to pull myself together." Lipnitskaia was well aheadd of Kostner going into the free skate after a precise and ambitious short program. C.J. Wilson Angels Jersey. . But after falling on her triple lutz, she put her hand down on the second jump. Kostner opened well, but later put her hands down on two jumps. She won the free skate, but ended 0.68 points behind Lipnitskaia in the overall results. Kostner, a 26-year-old veteran and the 2012 world champion, took it in stride, saying she wont let it distract her from preparing for the Sochi Olympics. "I made a few mistakes, but thats how it goes building up to an important event," the Italian said. Nagasu was pleased with third, after her eighth-place finish at the NHK Cup. "I wish I could put two and two together and make it to the final, but unfortunately that isnt the case. Ill take it as a blessing in disguise because then I have more time to train for nationals," she said. Nagasu had been in fourth, just one-hundredth of a point behind compatriot Agnes Zawadzki, whose troubled free program landed her in sixth place overall. wholesale jerseys cheap jerseys ' ' ' |
