Zebby Matthews vexes Rangers’ batters as Twins defeat Texas 4-1

Zebby Matthews and the Twins on Tuesday night discovered someone having an even more unhappy September than they are. The result: For a change, the Twins seemed to be having fun.

Matthews’ second pitch of the night flew 411 feet and landed a dozen rows up in the right-field seats, a leadoff home run by Texas Rangers DH Joc Pederson that was ominous for a pitcher who had allowed 15 runs in 13⅔ innings in his three previous September starts. But Matthews shook it off and pitched seven impressive innings, not even allowing another Ranger to reach third base, to lead the Twins to a 4-1 victory at Globe Life Field.

The loss was the Rangers’ eighth in a row and eliminated them from the American League playoff race.

The victory was the Twins’ second in a row, a modest streak of success, perhaps, but only the second time they’ve won back-to-back games since Aug. 8.

“A night like this was great!” said Kody Clemens, who collected a single and a double, drove in a run and made a couple of nice defensive plays. “Obviously we’re not in the playoff picture, [but] you still have to play as hard as you can. I’m not stopping or slowing down. I want to finish strong this year for this team.”

BOXSCORE: Twins 4, Texas 1

MLB standings

Maybe that doesn’t sound like much either, but the Twins had scored in only four of their previous 40 innings entering Tuesday’s game, so rallying to victory, even from just a one-run deficit, was a mood lifter for the visitors. Not to mention, even with the loss, Texas has still outscored the Twins 35-17 in their four meetings this season.

The lineup was boosted by the return of both of the Twins’ injured catchers. Christian Vázquez started behind the plate for the first time since suffering an infection in his right shoulder in early August. He singled, drew two walks, was hit by a pitch — and even stole his first base of the season.

Ryan Jeffers, meanwhile, was activated from the concussion list just before game time and served as the designated hitter after missing nearly three weeks. Jeffers singled, driving in a run, in four at-bats.

The Twins went just 3-for-19 with runners in scoring position, sure — but thanks to Matthews, the Rangers were a measly 0-for-1.

Most gratifying, Matthews said, was that he rebounded from allowing nine runs to the New York Yankees in his last start.

He did it with pinpoint control of his slider, the two-strike pitch that provided all six of his strikeouts. He didn’t walk a batter, either and allowed just three singles after Pederson’s homer.

“He’s got a good slider. It’s a really, really tough pitch, especially for righthanded hitters,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters in Arlington, Texas. “It’s a pretty righthanded lineup that they’re fielding right now, and Zebby did his part to neutralize those guys.”

He needed only 90 pitches to tie his career-longest outing, too, before giving way to Kody Funderburk and Cole Sands, who pitched a scoreless inning apiece, the latter earning his third save of the season.

A pitcher only occasionally trusted to face opposing hitters three times in a game, this time Matthews didn’t allow a hit his third time through the Texas lineup. In fact, if not for a Royce Lewis throwing error, Matthews would have retired the last 11 hitters he faced.

Part of the credit, Matthews said, belonged to his catcher.