Texas left-hander Hyeon-Jong Yang struck out eight batters over 3 1/3 innings in his first major league start as the Rangers beat the Minnesota Twins 3-1 on Wednesday in Minneapolis.

Nate Lowe had two hits for the Rangers, who won for the sixth time in their past nine games.

John King (3-1) pitched 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief for the victory. Ian Kennedy struck out three and walked one in the ninth inning while registering his ninth save in as many chances.

Mitch Garver gave the Twins a lead in the second inning with a 429-foot solo homer off Yang, who served as the Rangers' first left-handed starter this season.

Texas pulled even in the fourth when Nick Solak singled to begin the inning, moved to second on a wild pitch, went to third on Lowe's single and scored on a fielder's choice groundout from Joey Gallo.

Minnesota loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth against Yang, who struck out Jorge Polanco before getting replaced. King entered and retired Max Kepler and Miguel Sano to end the threat.

Twins starter Lewis Thorpe (0-1) allowed the first two batters to reach base in the sixth and was replaced by Cody Stashak, who allowed both inherited runners to score. Solak came home on a wild pitch, and Lowe scored on Andy Ibanez's sacrifice fly to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead.

Thorpe yielded three runs on five hits over five-plus innings with one walk and two strikeouts.

Minnesota batters struck out 15 times and went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

Nelson Cruz and Kyle Garlick had two hits apiece for the Twins.

Sano returned from the injured list after missing 12 games with a right hamstring strain, and he went 1-for-3 with a walk.

The Rangers have won the middle two games of the four-game series after dropping the opener.

--Field Level Media