Story thread · 2 reports / 1 sources

Rangers eliminated from postseason contention on final day with loss to Twins

nbcdfw.com · 22h · first reportShare

The Texas Rangers were eliminated from postseason contention on the final day of the regular season with a 6-4 loss Sunday to the Minnesota Twins, who got a home run and three RBIs from Josh Bell to back Dean Kremer’s seven innings of one-run pitching. Texas (80-82) needed a win and a Houston loss to the Athletics. Houston (80-81), which held the division tiebreaker, was leading 8-0 in the eighth inning when the Rangers game ended. Minnesota finished 77-85, a seven-win improvement in manager Derek Shelton’s first season. Kremer (5-5) gave up three hits, retiring 15 of his last 16 hitters. He went 4-1 with a 3.48 ERA in 10 starts after the Twins acquired him from Baltimore on Aug. 1. Bell’s first-inning sacrifice fly fly was offset by Danny Jansen’s third-inning solo homer for the Rangers. Bell put the Twins ahead for good at 3-1 with a two-run homer off reliever Chase Silseth (0-2). Texas used six pitchers through the first five innings as manager Skip Schumaker tried to exploit matchu