Twins 6, Rangers 1
Francisco Liriano flirted with perfection and carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning before settling for his first home victory of the season as the Minnesota Twins posted a 6-1 triumph over the Texas Rangers on Sunday.
A day after Scott Baker retired the first 12 Rangers en route to a five-hit victory, Liriano set down the initial 19 batters he faced before Elvis Andrus reached on an error by third baseman Hughes, ruining the left-hander's bid for a perfect game. Hughes had made a nice diving grab in the fourth, robbing Ian Kinsler of a hit.
Liriano (4-6), who also was aided by an impressive sliding catch by right fielder Jason Repko in the second, kept his composure and recorded a pair of flyouts to keep the no-hitter intact.
The Twins made Liriano wait about 30 minutes as they scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh. The lengthy rest apparently affected him as he began the eighth with three straight balls to Adrian Beltre before allowing a single to center field, ending his quest for his second no-hitter of the season.
Liriano, who held the Chicago White Sox hitless on May 3 for his first career complete game, allowed a run and two hits in eight innings while tying his season high with nine strikeouts.
Michael Cuddyer hit a three-run homer and Luke Hughes recorded three
hits and an RBI for the Twins, who took three of four from Texas for
just their second series win at Target Field this season.
Hughes gave Liriano an early lead with a two-out RBI single in the first off Texas starter Matt Harrison (5-6), who left in the seventh with an arm injury. Minnesota erupted after Harrison's departure as Cuddyer highlighted an outburst of five unearned runs with his ninth homer of the year.
Michael Young played in his 1,573rd career game with the Rangers, tying Rafael Palmeiro for first place on the franchise list.