MINNEAPOLIS -The Rangers completed the first half of their season on Friday night in a powerful position.
A 3-2 win in 10 innings against lowly Minnesota at Target Field put the Rangers on a pace for a 104-win season. The franchise record for wins is 96, set by the 2011 club. That team went to the World Series.
This club leads the American League West by 8 ½ games. It has the extra bonus of six more games against the Twins, who have the worst record in the majors, in the next nine days leading up to the All-Star break.
“It’s a good number,” manager Jeff Banister said. “We’re not going to toast to halfway. ... It’s a good place to be at the halfway mark.”
This win spoke of the Rangers’ performance in the first half. They have held together in taut games. The Rangers have the best record in the majors for one-run decisions at 18-6. If they are a mere .500 in that area, there is a close race with Houston in the West.
Jurickson Profar, batting as a pinch-hitter, drove in a two runs with a pinch-hit single on a 0-2 pitch from Ryan Pressly of Flower Mound in the seventh. Ian Desmond produced the needed extra run, leading off the final inning with an opposite-field homer off reliever Fernando Abad.
Desmond was in a mini-slump at 0-for-10 before getting three hits in his final four at-bats. The change began on Thursday at New York’s Yankee Stadium, Desmond said.
Before his final at-bat in a 0-for-4 game, Desmond turned to replay coordinator and long-time coach Bobby Jones for input. Jones told Desmond that he would benefit from getting back to using the opposite field more often.
Desmond took that advice into this game and used the opposite field on all three hits.
“He doesn’t get much credit, but he certainly deserves it, especially on a day like today,” Desmond said of Jones.
Desmond has hit five homers that put the Rangers into the lead in the seventh inning or later.
That is the highest total in the majors. The concept of “clutch” is debated throughout the game. Ian Desmond is Exhibit A that clutch is for real.
“I was more focused in that at-bat, because I wasn’t happy with,” Desmond said. “I went out to the outfield and said `Let’s go, you’ve to get locked in.’ It just happened to be that inning, that at-bat.”
Sam Dyson, who gave up a four-run lead in his previous appearance on Wednesday at the Yankees, gave up a lead-off single in the 10th but closed the win. Rookie Matt Bush preceded him with what ranks among his best performances of the season.
Bush shut down the Twins for the eighth and ninth, allowing only one base-runner. It was an important appearance for Bush and the Rangers. In his previous three appearances, he had allowed five runs in 2 2/3 innings.
He also had run into trouble when sent back out for a second inning.
“I felt like my tempo was back,” Bush said. “I had been out there thinking a little too much and kind of guiding the ball. I took a step back and realized that I have to go right after them with my best pitch, my best effort.”
Banister made a rare first trip to the mound after Bush allowed a two-out single in the ninth. Banister wanted to remind Bush to focus on the batter, not pinch-runner Danny Santana. Banister also wanted to take Bush’s temperature.
“I’ve got a rookie who has been through some battles,” Banister said. “I wanted to calm him down and get him focused. “
It worked. Bush finished the inning with no more trouble, setting up more heroics from Ian Desmond. That’s how it works with a team on the path to 104 wins.
Twitter: @gfraley