Twins can't sweep Rangers as Adolis García hits walk-off home run off Josh Winder

ARLINGTON, TEXAS – Mitch Garver had the cheat codes.

"I've caught Kenta [Maeda] many times, right? I know how he likes to pitch," the former Twins catcher said after the Texas Rangers salvaged the finale of the three-game series at Globe Life Field with a 6-5 victory over the Twins on Sunday. "He threw me a first-pitch splitter, which I wasn't looking for. The slider, though, I was looking for it."

Garver launched that first-inning slider 396 feet to put the Rangers in front, singled twice more off Maeda, then blasted a 426-foot homer into the Twins bullpen against Cole Sands in the seventh inning, his first four-hit day since he was a Twin.

Garver was on deck in the ninth with a chance to win the game, but Adolis García beat him to it, crushing a fastball from Josh Winder 430 feet into the second deck in left field to finally put away a game in which the Twins rallied from behind three times.

"We've been coming back a lot. Every time you play them, it's a battle with that lineup," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "We had a chance to win that game. We easily could have won it. We were trying to do it a little shorthanded today, but that's life in this league."

He means, after using his best lead-protectors in order to win the first two games of the series, Baldelli knew he wouldn't have Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax or Caleb Thielbar available Sunday. It forced him to follow Maeda, who didn't allow another run after Garver's homer in a five-inning start, with rookies Sands and Kody Funderburk and second-year righthander Winder.

"We won those earlier games because we pitched those guys. They won those games for us. I try to keep that in mind," Baldelli said. "Today, we knew we were going to need some other guys to step up, and they battled. They worked hard, got out of some jams and gave us a chance."

In addition to Garver's seventh-inning home run, Sands, who had not pitched in a game closer than three runs this season, gave up a run after loading the bases with two outs in the sixth on two walks and a single. With two strikes on García, Sands threw a splitter behind the batter, a wild pitch that scored Marcus Semien from third.

But the Twins came back from deficits of 3-0, 4-3 and 5-4, and each time, Royce Lewis was in the middle of the rally. With two runners on in the fifth, the rookie third baseman reached across the plate for an outside slider from Rangers starter Jon Gray and lifted it the opposite way, just inside the right-field foul pole.

"It's a huge swing. He drives the ball all over the park when he barrels it up," Baldelli said of Lewis, whose 33 RBI are seventh most on the team even though he has played in fewer than one-third of the games. "He's been doing a lot of that for us lately."

He wasn't done. Two innings later, Lewis hustled home from second base on Carlos Correa's single to left to tie the score. And in the eighth, after walks by Jordan Luplow and Jorge Polanco, Lewis singled sharply to left, driving in his fourth run of the day.

BOXSCORE: Texas 6, Twins 5

That one-out hit tied the score 5-5. Polanco and Lewis then pulled off a double steal, and Max Kepler walked, loading the bases for Correa, who had singled three times already. But Correa couldn't deliver for a fourth time. Worse, he hit a soft grounder directly at second base, which Semien turned into an easy inning-ending double play.

It was the 29th time Correa has hit into a double play, breaking the Twins' single-season franchise record that he had shared with Harmon Killebrew (1970) and Trevor Plouffe (2015).

The Twins now head to Cleveland for a three-game showdown with their closest American League Central pursuer. The Guardians, though, didn't take advantage of the Twins' loss, falling to Tampa Bay 6-2, and face a five-game deficit in the race for the division title with only 25 left to play.

"We're playing good baseball. The guys are working hard, and I think we're ready," Baldelli said. "The guys know what we've got to accomplish, and I'm excited to watch it."