MINNEAPOLIS _ Joe Mauer received a scheduled day off on Saturday. If anything was scheduled, it was for Mauer to avoid facing Rangers left-hander Cole Hamels, against whom he is 0 for 12.
Miguel Sano was already on the bench after being hit with a pitch in the left hand for the second time in under two weeks.
Regardless of how they are currently producing, Mauer and Sano are two of the Twins' best hitters, from the deep counts that Mauer usually ends up in to the imposing power figure Sano is in the batter's box.
Rangers left-hander Cole Hamels eased his way through a depleted Twins lineup to pitch the Rangers to a 4-1 win at Target Field. Hamels enjoyed a five-pitch second inning and a six-pitch seventh and entered the eighth with 69 pitches thrown. He finished with 96 pitches, 64 of them strikes.
Twins manager Paul Molitor, with a three man bench, had few options. He had to bat Eduardo Escobar third on Saturday. Chris Gimenez started in the cleanup spot for just the second time in his career. Left-handed hitters Eddie Rosaro and Max Kepler had to start on Saturday. Lefties entered Saturday batting .185 against Hamels.
The Twins mustered just one run. Byron Buxton singled in the fifth, stole second and went to third when Robinson Chirinos' throw went into center field. Buxton raced home when Ehire Adrianza _ the first baseman on Saturday _ tapped out to first.
After Buxton reached base, Hamels retired 11 straight Twins until Jorge Polanco led off the ninth with a double into the right-field corner. But Hamels calmly retired the next three batters to finish the 16th complete game of his career, first since Oct. 4, 2015.
Hamels, whose season was derailed for nearly two months because of a right oblique strain, pitched at least eight innings for just the second time in 13 starts this season.
Twins right-hander Kyle Gibson, meanwhile, delivered an uneven performance in his latest effort to prove to the organization that he can be part of the future rotation.
Gibson has pitched just once since July 22, when he went five shutout innings for Class AAA Rochester on July 27. Most sinkerballers are just as effective, and sometimes more effective, when they are a little tired. Not the other way. Gibson was solid at times and benefited from some hard-hit balls that were right at his fielders.
In 51/3 innings, Gibson gave up three runs on seven hits and two walks with four strikeouts.
Texas scored twice in the first inning when Elvis Andrus singled off Jorge Polanco's glove and Nomar Mazara drove a Gibson pitch into the bullpen in left-center for a two-run homer run and a 2-0 Rangers lead.
Gibson issued a leadoff walk to Mike Napoli in the second and watched him eventually score on a sacrifice fly to give Texas a 3-0 lead.
After the Twins scored in the fifth to make it 3-1, the Rangers made it 4-1 in the ninth off reliever Taylor Rogers. Rogers, with two outs, plunked Carlos Gomez on the hip with a pitch. Gomez stole second _ the 250th steal of his career _ then scored on Chirinos' RBI single.
