Texas Rangers (36-29) at Minnesota Twins (24-39) Preview Game 3

C.J. Wilson ( Michael Young and Adrian Beltre, too) helped the Rangers last night to pick up their very first win at Target Field winning 9-3 – seven of the Rangers’ runs came in the second inning. Now that they have achieved that win, they’ll look to win consecutive games for the first time ever in Minnesota as they play game three of four this afternoon.

Michael Young, who had three hits and three RBIs in last night’s victory over the Twins, will be getting a day of rest this afternoon. Ron Washington feels it is about time to give the super utility a day off even though he is one game away from tying Rafael Palmeiro’s franchise record for number of games played in the organization as a Ranger – that record will have to wait to be met until tomorrow and exceeded on Sunday.

Also hot last night was Adrian Beltre who had two runs batted in as well as two hits. Beltre now has 48 RBIs, which is third in the American League and he’ll look to continue adding to that number this afternoon.

Pitching Matchups

RHP Scott Baker gets on the hill for the Twins this afternoon. Baker is 3-4 with an ERA of 3.86. He has 71 strikeouts and 23 walks. He got his first win last time out since May 6 as his team defeated the Indians 6-4 in part to his four runs on nine hits in seven innings. In his previous six games, he has allowed at least three runs in five of them with the other game being seven scoreless innings of six hits.

At home, Baker has allowed nine runs on 19 hits over 16.1 innings while striking out 17 and walking seven. In seven starts against the Texas Rangers, Baker is 3-2 with a 5.34 ERA.

The Rangers counter with RHP Colby Lewis, who is 5-6 with a 4.37 ERA. He has 58 strikeouts and 21 walks for the season. He took the loss last time out after allowing nine runs on 10 hits in only 3.1 innings – four of those runs being homers. He hasn’t had the most favorable year and when you consider that he allowed just 21 homers last year over 201 pitched innings but this year he has pitched 78.1 innings and he has already allowed 17 homers.

On the road, Lewis has allowed 12 runs on 36 hits in 45.2 innings while striking out 42 and walking eight. Lewis has four career starts against Minnesota in which he has gone 0-2 with an ugly 7.40 ERA allowing nearly one earned run per inning pitched.

Pitchers vs. Hitters

RHP Scott Baker: As a team, Texas is hitting .250 against Baker. Michael Young is 6-for-22 with a double, one homer, three RBIs, one walk and five strikeouts. Adrian Beltre is 9-for-25 with three doubles, one homer, two RBIs, one walk and one strikeout. Elvis Andrus is 4-for-11 with two RBIs, two walks and two strikeouts while Josh Hamilton is 2-for-14 with one double, three RBIs, one walk and six strikeouts. Nelson Cruz and Mike Napoli are a combined 3-for-15.

RHP Colby Lewis: The Twins are batting .207 against Lewis as a team. Michael Cuddyer is 2-for-9 (the only one with two hits off Lewis) with one double and two RBIs. Delmon Young, Alexi Casilla, Matt Tolbert and Danny Valencia each have a single hit off Lewis.