Twins mash their way to 8-1 victory over Rangers

Arlington, Texas – Seven consecutive balls to start the game. Three walks. Four three-ball counts. All in the first inning. But no runs.

The Twins left the bases loaded in the first inning Tuesday night against Texas and a struggling Andrew Cashner, and stranding potential runs early in road games can haunt teams in the end.

"That inning could have gone longer," third baseman Miguel Sano said.

But walks eventually became wallops as the Twins broke through in the fourth and fifth innings to beat the Rangers 8-1 at Globe Life Park, giving them victories in the first two games of the three-game series. A seven-run fifth inning, during which the Twins knocked out Cashner and went to town on reliever Anthony Bass, put Texas away. Now they have a chance to sweep Texas in a three-game series in Arlington for the first time since 1976 in Wednesday night's series finale.

Sano led the way by going 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBI. He also made three strong plays in the field.

The Twins entered Tuesday leading the majors in walks, but they were tied for 18th in runs scored. Their .239 batting average with runners in scoring position has been a contributing factor. What good is drawing all the walks if they can get them home?

And the Twins collected five walks against Cashner entering the fourth inning, with nothing to show for it. Yet.

Once Kennys Vargas powered a home run into the right field stands in the fourth, the seal was broken and the Twins began circling the bases.

Sano got ahold of an 0-2 Cashner pitch to lead off the fifth and launched it an estimated 437 feet into the club level. It was the 21st time in the ballpark's history that a ball has landed on that level.

The big man, by the way, doesn't stop to admire his home runs.

"I never watch," he said, "Sometimes I see hitters hit the ball and try to pimp it and the ball hit the wall. I try to run to first base hard."

That was it for Cashner. His wildness led to 95 pitches and six walks. Now the Twins were into the soft underbelly of a pitching staff — middle relief.

Joe Mauer, Jorge Polanco and Jason Castro greeted Bass with doubles, scoring two more runs. Castro scored on a wild pitch. Byron Buxton hit an RBI single. Brian Dozier had an RBI groundout. Sano batted for the second time in the inning and delivered an RBI single, although he was out trying to stretch it into a double.

Buxton, trying to overcome a horrendous start to the season, was effective at the plate for a second consecutive game, collecting two singles and walk.

Twins righthander Ervin Santana had more than enough room with which to work. He gave up one run — Joey Gallo's homer — and four hits with six strikeouts and two walks over seven innings. His ERA actually rose to 0.77, but it still leads the majors. At 4-0, Santana is off to his start since 2008.

"It was a good night for a lot of guys, offensively," Molitor said. "If a guy leading off an inning gets multiple RBI in that inning, that's usually a sign of a good inning. And Ervin was solid."