Jake Cave hit a tiebreaking homer in an eight-run fifth inning that erased a six-run deficit, sending the Minnesota Twins to a 10-7 victory over the Texas Rangers on Friday night.
Tyler Austin started the fifth with his 15th home run and Mitch Garver's three-run double pulled the Twins even after Nomar Mazara's 435-foot drive for a three-run shot had given the Rangers a 6-0 lead in the fourth.
Cave's eighth homer in his rookie season was a two-run shot off pulled into the right-field seats in a lefty-lefty matchup against reliever Matt Moore (3-7).
Matt Magill (3-2) and three other Minnesota relievers combined to strike out nine in 4 1/3 scoreless innings to help hand the Rangers their fifth straight loss.
Trevor May fanned four of the five he faced in the seventh and eighth. Trevor Hildenberger allowed a run without a hit in the ninth.
Garver added an RBI double in the seventh, had three hits and reached on a three-base error in the ninth when Carlos Tocci dropped a fly ball as he was crashing into the wall in center field.
Handed the big lead on Mazara's 17th homer , Drew Hutchison didn't retire any of the four batters he faced in the fifth. Jorge Polanco ended his night with a two-run double . The right-hander has an 8.86 ERA in five starts for Texas.
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Minnesota left-hander Stephen Gonsalves, looking for his first big league win in his third start, didn't make it out of the fourth inning. The 24-year-old allowed six hits and six runs -- three earned -- with no strikeouts and four walks in 3 2/3 innings.
Martin Perez made his first relief appearance for Texas since he was a rookie in 2012. The left-hander pitched two scoreless innings two days after he was taken out of the rotation with a 6.95 ERA in 13 starts.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Twins: Manager Paul Molitor said he didn't expect LF Eddie Rosario to play the rest of this nine-game road trip after leaving Thursday's 5-3 loss at Cleveland with tightness in his right quadriceps muscle. The trip ends Wednesday in Houston. ... Polanco was back in the lineup at shortstop after missing the three-game series against the Indians with a strained left hamstring.
Rangers: Manager Jeff Banister said RHP Bartolo Colon (lower back strain) is the likely starter Sunday. The 45-year-old was eligible to come off the disabled list Friday.
UP NEXT
Twins RHP Jose Berrios (11-9, 3.74 ERA) had a career-high 12 strikeouts in seven shutout innings in his previous start against Texas. Rangers RHP Yovani Gallardo (7-3, 6.01) is winless in his past three starts. Gallardo won seven of his first nine starts after rejoining one of his former teams in June.
