Rangers' comeback, led by Santana, falls short

ARLINGTON -- Rangers manager Chris Woodward admired the way his team didn’t give up after falling behind by six runs in the top of the first inning. He liked the way his team kept fighting all night long.

But that was all he liked on a night when Danny Santana hit two home runs and the Rangers still went down, 12-7, to the Twins on Saturday at Globe Life Park. The Rangers have lost nine of their last 11 games, including three straight to the Twins.

• Box score

“We did fight; we did fight to get back in the game,” Woodward said. “But overall we didn’t play well today. We didn’t do anything to win the game. We didn’t get guys out when we needed to, especially early. We need to play better.”

Rangers starter Ariel Jurado allowed six runs in the first inning and two more in the second before his night came to a quick end. The six in the first were unearned because Jurado dropped a throw while covering first base that could have completed an inning-ending double play without any runs scoring.

“We let one mistake snowball into a bunch of runs,” Woodward said. “Those are things that when we get into a mode where we are a contender, we have to be able to stop the bleeding in those moments. You give a good team an extra out. You have to make them pay, and we have to get on the flip side of that.”

Jurado’s outing dropped him to 6-9 with a 5.38 ERA on the season. It also came the same day the Rangers announced rookie left-handers Brock Burke and Joe Palumbo will start in a doubleheader Tuesday against the Angels. The possibility exists one of those two could replace Jurado in the rotation.

Woodward said Jurado started out throwing the ball well, but it all changed after he dropped the double-play relay from shortstop Elvis Andrus.

“The first two hits that inning were ground balls that found holes in the infield, and the 3-6-1 double play is hard to do,” Woodward said. “At that point, he was throwing the ball good. Maybe he got tired; it was hot out there.

“Once the pitch count gets up, it’s concerning for any pitcher. In his case, the balls started elevating and he lost a bit of his stuff and didn’t execute and they started hitting the ball hard off him.”

Santana led the Rangers’ comeback bid with a pair of two-run home runs, in the first and second innings off Twins starter Jose Berrios. It’s the fifth time in Rangers history that a player has hit a home run in both the first and second innings. Ian Kinsler did it twice in 2009, and Carl Everett (2002) and Mark Teixeira (2005) did it once.

“We all play to win,” Santana said. “I can say I feel OK about the home runs, but we play to win. So I can’t feel good about it.”

The Rangers, trailing 9-6, knocked Berrios out of the game in the fifth. With one out, Andrus and Nomar Mazara both singled before Hunter Pence and Rougned Odor walked to force in a run. Right-hander Tyler Duffey took over and stopped the rally by striking out Logan Forsythe and getting Isiah Kiner-Falefa on a flyout to center.

Another missed opportunity for the Rangers came in the sixth after Jose Trevino led off with a single off reliever Ryne Harper. Shin-Soo Choo followed with a double off the wall in left-center, but Trevino was thrown out after being waved home by third base coach Tony Beasley.

Eighth-inning brouhaha

Tempers flared in the eighth after reliever Shawn Kelley gave up a run-scoring single to Mitch Garver to make it 10-7. Kelley finished the inning by getting Marwin Gonzalez out on a grounder to second and then started yelling as he walked off the mound. Gonzalez started yelling back at him, and the two had to be separated as both teams spilled out onto the field. The situation was defused without anybody getting ejected.

“Basically, two frustrated guys,” Woodward said. “They weren’t talking to each other. One was mad he hit a ground ball, and the other was mad he gave up a run. Both kind of yelled at the same time, and one thought one was talking to the other. It was nothing.

“Obviously, two guys were heated. There was no beef between each other. It just happened they were close proximity and both yelled and were upset. It was a miscommunication.”