MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Delmon Young delivered Minnesota's much-needed hit with the bases loaded and the Twins scored six times in the seventh inning to beat the Texas Rangers 8-3 Saturday.
Young had a two-run double and J.J. Hardy followed with a two-run single for the Twins, who entered the game hitting just .167 with the bases loaded this season.
Orlando Hudson had a homer, a double and three RBIs. Carl Pavano (5-5) allowed two runs on seven hits in seven innings for Minnesota.
An announced crowd of 39,659, the largest crowd in Target Field's 26-game history, put the Twins over the 1 million mark already this season. It's the fastest they've reached the plateau in club history, surpassing the 31 games it took in 1988.
C.J. Wilson (3-3) allowed only one hit in the first five innings before running into trouble in the sixth.
Wilson retired the first seven batters he faced before a single by Hardy in the third. He responded by setting down the next 10 in a row with an impressive mix of the 94 mph fastballs and hard sliders that made him a closer earlier in his career and a few tricky off-speed pitches that convinced the Rangers his future is as a starter.
The Twins got to him with two outs in the sixth, getting a single from Denard Span before Hudson hit his third homer of the season into the left-field stands to tie it at 2.
Perhaps a little deflated, Wilson walked Justin Morneau to lead off the seventh, gave up a double to Michael Cuddyer and then walked Jason Kubel to exit with the bases loaded and nobody out.
It's a situation that has paralyzed the Twins this season. They came into the game with 66 at-bats with the bases loaded, the most in the major leagues, but managed only 11 hits.
Young changed that in a hurry, lining the first pitch he saw from Chris Ray into the left-field corner. Hardy then blooped a single over third baseman Michael Young's head to make it 6-2. Hudson and Morneau added RBIs for an 8-2 lead.
Pavano, who entered the game getting a staff-low 3.55 runs of support per game, kept the powerful Rangers in check.
Julio Borbon had two hits and two RBIs for Texas, but Michael Young, Ian Kinsler, Vladimir Guerrero and Josh Hamilton went a combined 2 for 16.
NOTES: Umpires reviewed, and upheld, a call by Paul Nauert in the third inning that ruled Young's fly ball down the RF line went just foul and was not a home run. ... Michael Young's double in the eighth was the 322nd of his career, moving him past Rafael Palmeiro for second on the Rangers' career list. ... Hardy committed the first error by a Twins SS this season and Kubel had a throwing error in the first two-error game for the Twins this year.
(This version CORRECTS Twins 8, Rangers 3. SUBS 4th graf to correct to 1988 sted 1998.)
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