MINNEAPOLIS -- Denard Span delivered the go-ahead single in the seventh inning, emergency starter Matt Fox pitched 5 2/3 innings in his major league debut, and the depleted Minnesota Twins beat the Texas Rangers 4-3 on Friday night.
Fox allowed two runs and four hits, giving the Twins' staff a major boost after scheduled starter Nick Blackburn was forced to pitch in Thursday's 13-inning loss to Detroit.
Alex Burnett (2-2), who arrived with Fox from Triple-A earlier Friday, allowed a run in 1 1/3 innings. Matt Capps recorded five outs for his eighth save with the Twins and 34th overall.
With one out and runners on first and third in the eighth, Capps struck out Nelson Cruz and got Ian Kinsler to ground out.
Josh Hamilton singled with one out in the eighth, and then left the game with lower back stiffness. Hamilton had missed the Rangers last two games with a sore knee.
The Rangers went ahead in the seventh when Kinsler scored on Julio Borbon's squeeze bunt. Rangers starter Derek Holland (2-3) was unable to hold the lead.
J.J. Hardy tied it with an RBI single off reliever Alexi Ogando. Span put the Twins ahead when his single off Matt Harrison scored Jason Repko.
The Twins were scrambling to find enough arms just to get through the game against a solid Texas lineup. Besides Blackburn, starter Brian Duensing was also used on Thursday. Relievers Jeff Manship, Jesse Crain and Matt Guerrier have been used extensively the past few days and were not available.
Fox's debut was more impressive considering it came on a night when 34 of the Twins all-time greats were in attendance.
The game started a half hour later than usual so the Twins could honor the 50 greatest players in team history during a pregame ceremony. Twins legends such as Harmon Killabrew, Kent Hrbek and Tony Oliva were introduced and gathered around home plate as video tributes played on the big screen and fans cheered.
Hot-hitting Twins rookie Danny Valencia had two hits, but left the game in the seventh with a tight hamstring.
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Diamondbacks 4, Astros 3: PHOENIX -- Pinch hitter Augie Ojeda hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to lift the Arizona Diamondbacks to their eighth win in nine games.
Daniel Hudson pitched six effective innings, Aaron Heilman (5-5) allowed a hit in the eighth and Juan Gutierrez worked the ninth for his seventh save.
Adam LaRoche drove in two runs with a double in the first inning and a single in the fifth to reach 89 RBIs, eclipsing Tony Clark's 2005 team record for a first baseman by two.
Houston starter Brett Myers extended his streak of lasting at least six innings to 28 games.
Arizona pulled out the win in the eighth when Ojeda hit a ball to center off Wilton Lopez (5-1) that was just deep enough to score Ryan Roberts from third.
Hudson was sharp once again since arriving from the White Sox in a July 30 trade. The rookie right-hander has lasted at least seven innings in all six starts for Arizona, going 4-1 with a 1.85 ERA.
Hudson didn't allow a hit against the Astros until Angel Sanchez's leadoff single in the fourth inning, then gave up a run when Hunter Pence followed with another single and Jeff Keppinger hit a just-through-the-hole RBI single to left.
The Astros got another run off him in the fifth on Myers' late-swinging double that right fielder Gerardo Parra just missed, and a run-scoring single by Sanchez to nearly the same spot.
Hudson was replaced by a pinch hitter in the sixth after allowing two runs on seven hits with six strikeouts.
Myers has been consistently good this season, lasting at least six innings in all his starts, the longest streak in team history and longest in the majors since Arizona's Curt Schilling reached the seventh in 35 straight starts in 2002.
Myers' six-or-more streak appeared to be headed to a quick and ugly end against the hot-hitting Diamondbacks. He gave up a single to Stephen Drew in a lengthy opening at-bat, a walk to Chris Young, then a run-scoring double by LaRoche.
After escaping that early shakiness with three weak popouts to end the inning, Myers found trouble again in the fifth, when Young and LaRoche followed Parra's leadoff triple with run-scoring singles that put Arizona up 3-2.
Myers was replaced by a pinch hitter in the seventh inning after allowing three runs on seven hits in six innings, getting off the hook for the loss when Sanchez's double play groundout off Blaine Boyer tied it at 3-3 in the seventh.
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