Minnesota Twins vs Texas Rangers Box Score on Aug 16, 2019

Jonathan Schoop hit a two-run, go-ahead home run in the seventh inning, and Max Kepler also homered to lead the Minnesota Twins to a 4-3 victory over the Texas Rangers on Friday night in Arlington, Texas.

Marwin Gonzalez went 3-for-4 with a run, and Ehire Adrianza had a single and a double for Minnesota, which increased its lead in the American League Central to 1 1/2 games over Cleveland. The Indians lost 3-2 to the New York Yankees earlier Friday night.

Kepler, a native of Berlin, Germany, hit his 33rd homer of the season, passing Bobby Thomson (Scotland) for most in a season by European-born player in major league history.

Thomson hit 32 in 1951, capped by his "Shot Heard Round the World" in a pennant-winning tiebreaker for the New York Giants against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Tyler Duffey (3-1) picked up the victory by striking out the only batter he faced. Sergio Romo pitched around a double and a walk in the ninth to pick up his 20th save.

Nomar Mazara finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs, and Willie Calhoun had two hits, a walk and a run for Texas, which lost for the eighth time in 10 games.

Mike Minor (11-7) took the loss for the Rangers, allowing four runs (three earned) on eight hits over seven innings. He walked one and struck out five.

Kepler gave Minnesota a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning with a 404-foot drive into the right field bleachers. He drove in Miguel Sano, who reached base one pitch earlier when second baseman Rougned Odor dropped his towering popup in shallow right. The homer snapped a 19-inning scoreless streak by Minor.

Texas cut the deficit to 2-1 in the bottom half of the inning when Elvis Andrus, who had singled and gone to third on a single by Calhoun, scored on a wild pitch by Twins starter Jake Odorizzi.

The Rangers then took a 3-2 lead in the sixth on a two-out double by Mazara into the gap in right-center. The hit drove in Shin-Soo Choo, who had doubled, and Calhoun, who had walked.

The Twins regained the lead for good in the seventh inning. Gonzalez singled, his seventh hit over two games, and then scored on Schoop's 17th homer of the season, a drive over the 354-foot sign in left.

--Field Level Media