The Texas Rangers beat the Twins 4-1 Thursday night to earn a split in the 4-game series.  Matt Harrison threw 7 1/3 innings with 8 hits and 1 earned run allowed to get the win and improve to 9-7.  Scott Baker threw 7 innings with 8 hits and 2 earned runs allowed to take the loss and drop to 8-6.  Jim Thome went 2-4 with 1 RBI and Michael Cuddyer was 2-4 for Minnesota.  The Twins are 49-56 and are 6 games back of Detroit for first place in the American League Central.

The Twins begin a 3-game series at Oakland against the Athletics at 9:05 tonight, pregame on WJON at 8:35.  Lefthander Francisco Liriano (6-8) gets the start on the mound for the Twins and lefthander Gio Gonzalez (9-7) toes the rubber for the A's.

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