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The Twins have played in some strange games this season, but the walk-off victory on Monday night is uncomparable to any other. The Twins kicked off a four-game series with the Rangers with a 7-6 victory in twelve wild innings.
The Rangers took an early lead off of Twins righty Boof Bonser with solo homeruns in the first and third innings. After that point however, Bonser tooked control through the sixth inning and the Twins did some crazy things.
The Twins cut into the lead in the bottom half of the third inning with an RBI hit by catcher Joe Mauer. In the next inning, the first odd play of the night was tallied. Alexi Casilla, a speedy infielder with little power, towered a three-run, two-out bomb over the right field fence for a Twins lead at 4-2.
The Twins added another run in the sixth inning to extened their lead to three runs, and Bonser continued to cruise. After six innings, the Twins lead 5-2 and Bonser had thrown just 66 pitched while allowing just two runs.
But in the seventh inning, Bonser lost everything. He allowed a few hits and then recorded an out, but left the game with a small 5-4 Twins lead and runners at second and third. Matt Guerrier relieved him and recorded two outs without allowing a run to keep the lead in tact.
In the eighth inning however the Twins lost the lead for the first time since the third inning. Matt Guerrier allowed a run, and Dennys Reyes relieved him with a tie game and allowed the Rangers go-ahead run.
The Twins tied up the game in the the ninth with another Joe Mauer RBI single to send the game into three more crazy innings.
Joe Nathan started off the extras with a five-pitch tenth inning. The Twins offense went down quickly, and the defense was right back on the field. In the eleventh, Juan Rincon got into a bases-loaded, one out jam. With just a few pitchers remaining in the bullpen, the Twins brought in Bobby Korecky.
Korecky got a flyball to centerfield for the first out, and with Cuddyer's arm, the runner stayed at third. The next batter, Michael Young, struck out swinging to end the inning.
In the eleventh inning, Korecky was forced to bat second. The Twins had moved Brendan Harris from designated hitter to second as a defensive replacement for Casilla and lost the spot in the order.
But nothing was lost as Bobby Korecky stepped to the plate, and on the first pitch lined a single to rightfield. Korecky would go as far as third base before being stranded. He came back out for the twelfth inning and put the Rangers down in order.
In the bottom half of the inning, Howie Clark provided the magic and must-need win with a linedrive hit over centerfielder Josh Hamilton's head.
Interestingly enough, the odd game almost got crazier. With no bench players remaining, and Korecky due up after Clark, the Twins had starter Livan Hernandez and his .500 batting average on-deck.
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