One big inning enough for Texas to beat Sonny Gray, Twins in Arlington

ARLINGTON, TEXAS – Center fielder Byron Buxton quite literally put his body on the line to secure the Twins a victory Friday night at Globe Life Field.

But even the team's franchise player who is already playing through right knee tendinitis sliding and crashing all around the field wasn't enough to overcome one nightmare inning.

The Twins dropped 6-5 to the Rangers, squandering an early three-run lead and incredible defensive plays in the opener of a three-game series.

"I would love to sit here and talk about our defense all night," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "And I wanted to win that game for a lot of reasons, one of the reasons was that. It was one of the better defensive games, especially the first half of the game. It was just pretty amazing to watch. One of the better defensive games I've seen in a long time."

Whether it was the infielders turning double plays or Buxton making a diving catch before crashing into the wall in the fourth inning, the position players made starter Sonny Gray look very good. Gray gave up just one hit through the first four innings, but his command issues became very apparent in the fifth when the Rangers posted a five-hit, six-run outing.

Gray gave up two singles and a walk to start to load the bases before clipping former Twins catcher Mitch Garver with a pitch to let in the Rangers' first run. Leody Taveras' sacrifice fly brought in a second run before Josh Smith's RBI single tied the score for the Rangers.

Baldelli said because Gray had been cruising through the first part of the game, he wanted to leave him in so he could pitch out of the trouble. Gray said he "unraveled" in that inning.

"I just feel like overall, I just kind of lost that … swagger," Gray said. "It just kind of hasn't been there lately. So, I've got five days to find it and get it back and get back out there."

Caleb Theilbar relieved Gray, and gave up a three-run homer to Corey Seager.

The Twins (47-39), still on top in the AL Central by 4½ games after Cleveland lost its fifth game in a row, had lead 3-0 early from Carlos Correa's first-inning, two-run homer to the bullpen and Max Kepler's RBI single in the third inning. They also benefited from several Rangers mistakes, from fielding fails to pickoff blunders to wild pitches, although they also left a number of runners on base and failed to build on their lead.

After the big inning put the Rangers (38-43) ahead, the Twins offense came within one run in the top of the sixth. Nick Gordon smacked a leadoff double, and Ryan Jeffers homered. That spelled the end of Texas starter Jon Gray's evening after 5⅓ innings, in which he surrendered nine hits, three earned runs, a walk with eight strikeouts.

In addition to the catch at the wall, Buxton also appeared to hurt his left hand while sliding into third base on a wild pitch in the third inning. He also took a pitch off his upper arm later in the game.

"Yeah, that's just how Buck plays. That's the way he's always played. He plays hard. He plays to win. He's going to do whatever it takes to win the ballgame," Baldelli said. "There are some times where we, maybe not tone it down, but we ask him to just be under control and do that. He doesn't listen to us sometimes."

And Friday it was all for naught.