Adrian Beltre has helped the Texas Rangers win a lot of games over the years. On Saturday http://www.cowboysauthorizedshops.com/authentic-dalton-schultz-jersey , he found a surprising way to spark his team to its seventh straight victory.

Beltre and Robinson Chirinos homered to help Yovani Gallardo win for the first time since last July as the Texas Rangers beat the Minnesota Twins 9-6 on Saturday.

The home run wasn’t anything unusual — he’s got 466 of those his 21-year major league career. But he led off the second inning by beating out a ground ball to shortstop, no easy feat for a 39-year-old who has spent almost a month on the disabled list this year with a strained left hamstring.

The infield single led to a six-run rally to help the Rangers overcome an early 2-0 deficit.

”Speed kills – don’t you know that?” a grinning Beltre said. ”Over the last week or so, we’ve been able to find out how to get guys on, and now we’re getting more consistent in bringing those guys in.”

Eddie Rosario homered and drove in four runs for the Twins, while Logan Morrison also homered and Mitch Garver had three hits. Minnesota lost its third straight when it couldn’t overcome a short start from veteran Jake Odorizzi (3-5).

The Twins did rally for three runs in the ninth and had the tying run at the plate with two outs. But Rangers closer Keone Kela struck out Morrison with the bases loaded to end the game, earning his 18th save in 18 chances.

Gallardo (1-0) was making his second start for Texas after opening the year with Cincinnati. He promptly fell behind 2-0 just five pitches into the game before turning it around and pitching into the sixth inning.

Joe Mauer led off the bottom of the first with a sharp single to left. Then Rosario hit the first pitch he saw into the right-field seats for his 17th home run of the season.

But Gallardo settled down, at one point retiring 12 of 13. Morrison’s two-run homer with one out in the sixth inning ended Gallardo’s day, but he earned his first victory since July 29, 2017, when he was pitching for Seattle.

Odorizzi retired the side in order in the first inning, but the Rangers knocked him out in a six-run second. The big blows were two-run singles by Delino DeShields and Nomar Mazara.

Beltre’s second hit of the inning finally spelled the end for Odorizzi, who lasted just 1 2/3 innings. It was the shortest start of his career, other than a one-inning start in 2017 that he was forced to leave due to an injury.

”It just started to unravel,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said. ”A couple guys got on, then he slipped on the mound, then he hit a guy, and even later in the inning after he’d given up some, we still had chances. He got ahead of Mazara 0-2, Beltre he got ahead of, but we just couldn’t finish.”

Odorizzi, the Twins’ opening day starter, has seen his ERA climb steadily in his last six outings. He’s allowed 25 earned runs in 25 2/3 innings over that stretch, driving his ERA to a season-high 4.97.

”It’s upsetting and frustrating . It’s not something I take lightly.” Odorizzi said. ”I take a lot of pride in getting guys out. Trust me, I’m more frustrated about this than anybody in this clubhouse. This has been one of the tougher stretches in my short big league career.”

HIT BATTER BEEF

Rangers 3B Jurickson Profar was hit by pitches three times on Saturday, tying a team record that he also matched just two weeks ago. But the Rangers were not happy with the circumstances surrounding the third time it happened.

Profar stole second base in the fourth inning when the Rangers were leading 9-2. The next time Profar came to bat, Twins reliever Addison Reed threw three inside fastballs, finally hitting him in the leg with the third one.

”I thought the intent there was excessive, especially they tried to dial him up three different times,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. ”The guy’s playing baseball hard. I guess you can just look at it that there’s a difference in what they’re focusing in on and what we’re focusing in on.”

Molitor didn’t try to rationalize Reed’s approach to Profar, but he also didn’t deny that the dugout took notice when Profar stole a base with a seven-run lead.

”The thought process between the unwritten rules of the game is not clearly defined,” Molitor said. ”What I might think and what he might think might be different things. I was surprised that (Profar) ran with the score the way it was, when he did. And getting hit there was something that Banister felt wasn’t appropriate.”

ROMERO TO ROCHESTER

After the game the Twins optioned rookie RHP Fernando Romero to Triple-A Rochester, with a corresponding move to be announced on Sunday. Romero, who made his major league debut on May 2 and won his first two starts, is 3-3 with a 4.38 ERA in 10 starts.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Rangers: 1B Joey Gallo left the game in the third inning with left hamstring tightness. He was replaced by Ronald Guzman.

Twins: 3B Eduardo Escobar returned to the starting lineup for the first time since he was hit by a pitch on the right elbow in the first inning of Thursday’s game against Boston.

UP NEXT

Rangers: RHP Bartolo Colon (4-4, 4.91 ERA) returns to Target Field to face his former teammates in the series finale Sunday afternoon. Colon went 5-6 in 15 starts for the Twins last season as he helped them clinch the second AL wild card spot.

Twins: RHP Jose Berrios (7-5, 3.51) will be looking for his first victory since June 7 as Minnesota tries to avoid being swept. In his last two starts he’s allo Bradley Chubb would normally be content relying on game tapes to make his case to scouts.

There, he insists, they will find a big man with edge-rushing skills and enough power to stuff the run. Watch enough of footage and it just might convince those NFL executives that Chubb is the best defensive player in this year’s NFL draft.

But this is no typical week for North Carolina State’s star defensive end. He’s participating in the NFL’s annual scouting combine in Indianapolis Brett Favre Jersey , answering questions and dropping names.

”I try to take Khalil Mack and Von Miller and put them into one person,” Chubb said Saturday. ”I’m a high-motor, high-energy guy.”

If team executives concur, his name could be one of the first three called in April.

Naturally, Chubb describes himself as the best player in Indy this weekend and who’s going to argue with a 6-foot-4, 269-pound man.

Not the deep, diverse quarterback group, which did its on-the-field workouts Saturday and will likely spend the next few years trying to escape Chubb’s grasp.

Not the highly touted running back class, which includes Saquon Barkley and Chubb’s own cousin, Nick, who will be running away from a lineman who posted 25 sacks and 54 tackles for loss over the past three seasons.

Sure, there are questions.

Is he big enough to hold up against the NFL’s massive tackles, does he have enough moves to make an immediate impact, can he make a smooth transition to the more physical pro game?

He might also be asked to explain why he spat upon the Florida State logo following North Carolina State’s upset win or why he decided to skip the Wolfpack’s bowl game.

Those who know Chubb best have no doubt he will succeed.

”He’s so happy, always smiling,” said offensive tackle Will Richardson, a college teammate who routinely squared off with Chubb in practice.

”He’s a goofball. We used to get grapes after a game and he would come over and knock them out of your hands and someone would be like `Why did you do that?’ But he always had a few extra grapes in his other hand to give to you. He’s definitely a goofball, a goofball in a good way.”

Many believe there’s nothing goofy about him being possibly the best pass-rusher in a draft heavy on interior linemen – and thin at one of the NFL’s most coveted positions.

Those challenging Chubb’s title include Marcus Davenport of UTSA, Sam Hubbard of Ohio State, Arden Key of LSU and Harold Landry of Boston College.

Each had college careers that ranged from solid to spectacular, and each knows they must answer questions about size, injuries or the competition level they’ve faced.

”Nobody in this draft class has a first step like mine,” Landry said. ”My mindset and my approach to the game, I’m a guy that’s going to do whatever it takes to be the best at my position.”

But those who played alongside Chubb understand his impact cannot be measured in stats alone.

”We got to win more games,” college teammate and combine invitee Justin Jones said. ”Having a guy like Bradley Chubb on the edge, it turns a lot of plays back to us and the rest of the team. They want to take Bradley out of the game, and we have other (defensive) linemen that can make plays.”

Chubb appears to have the size to play right away, room to grow and even bloodlines working in his favor.

His father, Aaron, played at Georgia. His older brother, Brandon, starred at Wake Forest before being signed by the Los Angeles Rams as an undrafted free agent in 2016 and spending most of that season on the Detroit Lions‘ practice squad.

So if things fall the right way, Bradley Chubb could become the highest-drafted descendant of the family that established ”Chubbtown” – a rural area in northwestern Georgia, three miles from the Alabama border- in the mid-1800s.

And that’s an honor Chubb would treasure.

”When you’re there, you feel it,” he said. ”My last name is Chubb, and I wear it with pride.”

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