Postgame: Shin-Soo Choo's home run had Kyle Gibson worried it would be long day

Some extra stuff from a Sunday win:

Kyle Gibson suspected he might take a step back on Sunday. Two pitches into his start, it looked like he was right.

But Gibson shrugged off Shin-Soo Choo's leadoff home runs — the MLB-leading seventh given up by the Twins this season — and held the Rangers in check for almost seven innings, earning his second consecutive win.

"In the bullpen, I don't know that I've thrown that bad for awhile," Gibson said of his pregame warmup. After throwing a ball to Choo, "I thought he was taking for sure," so he tried another 90-mph fastball, low and outside. Choo blasted it to the bullpens in left-center.

It was the seventh first-inning leadoff home run allowed by the Twins this season, more than any other MLB team.

A walk and a single followed, but suddenly Gibson caught a break and everything changed. Adrian Beltre roped a grounder at Miguel Sano, and the third baseman made a slick grab, stepped on third and threw to first for a double play. Gibson didn't allow another baserunner to reach second until the fifth inning.

Gibson lasted more than six innings for the fourth consecutive start, but it wasn't quite seven. After two quick outs in the seventh inning, Elvis Andrus appeared to end the inning on a ground ball to Sano. But his throw sailed high, and Gibson walked Profar, ending his day with runners on base.

"The inning before, he was getting behind a little bit. He had to come back on a couple guys," Molitor said. "We didn't make a play there with two outs, and the next batter, they weren't very competitive pitches. Now the tying run is on base, so we made a move."

Ryan Pressly walked pinch-hitter Mitch Moreland and then allowed a two-run double to Shin-Soo Choo, the Rangers were within one run. But Pressly worked out of trouble by getting Ian Desmond to ground out — Sano bobbled this one, but made the play.

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Brandon Kintzler improved to four-for-four in save opportunities by pitching the ninth, but his day wasn't without drama. After retiring the first two batters, he allowed a Robinson Chirinos double to the wall in right-center. Choo, who led off the game with a home run, then ended it with a hard grounder to Dozier, who bobbled it, grabbed it, and threw him out just in time.

"It was pretty hard out there," Dozier said of the Target Field infield, baked by the July sunshine all day. "I wore that one, but I'm just glad it didn't kick any farther away than it did."

Molitor knows there's a four-day break ahead, which must feel like an oasis in the desert for a team that just reached a .333 winning percentage for the first time since they were 7-14 in April. But he doesn't want his team to think too much about that time off.