Rangers Beat Twins 10-6; Diamond, Gardy Ejected

The Twins lost 10-6 at Texas Thursday night to suffer their 3rd straight loss and 8th loss in their last 9 games.  Texas scored 6 runs in the 8th inning to break a 4-all tie.  Only 1 of the runs scored in the 8th inning was earned due to errors from Pedro Florimon and Trevor Plouffe.  Jared Burton took the loss in relief and drops to 1-1.

Scott Diamond started the game and threw 2 1/3 innings with 3 hits and 2 earned runs allowed.  He was ejected in the 3rd inning when he threw behind Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton.  The pitch was looked at as retaliation for Joe Mauer being hit in the back by a Roy Oswalt pitch in the top of the 3rd.  Manager Ron Gardenhire was ejected from the game in the 3rd inning after Diamond threw behind Hamilton.

Trevor Plouffe went 3-5 with 2 runs scored, Jamey Carroll was 3-4 with a run scored and Denard Span went 2-5 with 1 RBI.  Span returned to the lineup after missing 7 games with a strained shoulder.

The Twins continue the 4-game series at Texas again tonight at 7:05, pregame on WJON at 6:35.  Righthander Sam Deduno (4-1) gets the start on the mound for the Twins and lefthander Matt Harrison (14-7) toes the rubber for the Rangers.