Texas Tops Twins

For a second straight game a rookie starting pitcher stymied the Twins bats at Target Field Friday night.

The Texas Rangers defeated the Minnesota Twins 4-3 Friday night, with rookie Justin Grimm shutting out the Twins for seven innings to earn the win.

The Rangers went up 2-0 in the first inning, with Lance Berkman and Nelson Cruz each connecting on RBI doubles off of Twins starting pitcher Scott Diamond.

Diamond would finish the night with 6.1 innings pitched, allowing three runs on 12 hits with four strikeouts.

Texas added another run in the top of the sixth on an Adrian Beltre home run to dead center field. An Ian Kinsler RBI double in the top of the ninth gave the Rangers a 4-0 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth.

Josh Willingham led off the inning with a double off of reliever Joe Ortiz, and Justin Morneau followed with a single to put runners on the corners with no one out.

After Ortiz struck out Chris Parmelee for the first out, Texas manager made a call to the bullpen and brought in closer Joe Nathan.

Nathan struck out Trevor Plouffe for the second out, but then served up a three-run home run to Oswaldo Arcia that cut the Rangers lead to one.

Ron Gardenhire went to his bench and summoned Ryan Doumit to hit for Aaron Hicks, but Doumit flew out to center field to end the game.

The Twins fall to 9-10 on the season and will take on the Rangers again on Saturday afternoon.