ARLINGTON, Texas — Carlos Santana hit a sacrifice fly off All-Star closer Kirby Yates in the ninth inning and the playoff-contending Minnesota Twins won 3-2 at Texas on Thursday night in the series opener against the reigning World Series champion Rangers.

Santana’s deep fly to right-center came after Yates (4-2) issued consecutive one-out walks and then threw a wild pitch.

Willi Castro homered for the Twins (68-53), who moved within four games of idle Cleveland for the AL Central lead. Minnesota currently holds the American League’s second wild card.

The Rangers (56-66) are third in the AL West and now 10 games behind Houston, matching their biggest division deficit this season.

Jorge Alcala (3-3), the third Twins pitcher, retired all three batters he faced. Jhoan Duran struck out two in a perfect ninth for his 17th save in 18 chances.

Adolis García had three hits, his fifth time in seven games with multiple hits. His RBI single in the first inning came before Josh Jung’s sacrifice fly put Texas up 2-0. García is hitting .484 (15 of 31) in that span.

Minnesota got even in the second, which started with Castro’s 10th homer. Kyle Farmer followed with a triple that ricocheted off the asymmetrical wall in left-center and got by center fielder Leody Taveras for an error that allowed Farmer to score.

The Twins marked Christian Vázquez reaching 10 years of MLB service with balloons, cookies and a mariachi band in the clubhouse before the game. The catcher, who was part of World Series titles in Boston and Houston, had his 15th hit in his last 12 games with a single in the fourth. He was then doubled off first base on Austin Martin’s flyout.

Right fielder García’s throw to retire Vázquez was the third game in a row, and fourth of five, the Rangers had an outfield assist. Their 24th matched their 2023 season total and is two shy of Cleveland for the most in the majors this year.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Twins: CF Byron Buxton was placed on the 10-day injured list with inflammation in his right hip. The move was retroactive to Tuesday, the day after he exited a game against Kansas City. … INF Edouard Julien from Triple-A St. Paul for his third stint with the Twins this season. … RHP Louie Varland was optioned to St. Paul, and RHP Ronny Henriquez was recalled from that Triple-A team.

Rangers: RHP Nathan Eovaldi is scheduled to start Saturday, a week after coming out of his last start because of right side tightness. Eovaldi has thrown a bullpen and said everything should be fine. … Three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (right shoulder fatigue) is set to throw a bullpen Friday. His last start was July 30. … SS Corey Seager had a scheduled day off.

UP NEXT

Rangers lefty Andrew Heaney (4-12, 4.05 ERA) is tied for the most losses in MLB after going 0-2 with a 6.30 ERA his last four starts. Rookie right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson (3-3, 3.78) pitches Friday night for the Twins.

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