MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — If Joe Mauer is ready to retire Chuck Klein Jersey , he’s going out on a high note.Mauer reached base three times and Kyle Gibson capped a season of improvement with six quality innings in the Minnesota Twins‘ 8-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Saturday night.A free agent after the season, Mauer has said he’ll contemplate retirement after 15 years in Minnesota. But the former MVP and seven-time All-Star is showing he can still swing the bat with a strong September.He had two hits and scored twice Saturday. Mauer, who entered the day with a major league-leading .410 average with runners in scoring position, drove in a run with a single as part of a six-run second inning. He is hitting .365 with eight RBIs in his last 16 games.“It doesn’t surprise me,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said. “We’re all pulling for him to have a good finish to this year. He’s putting together a nice homestand. I think he’s really relishing just the response and the fans. You soak it in, even if you’re contemplating what lies ahead, just to kind of pause and take pictures of each day you’re playing the game.”Jorge Polanco added three hits and Jake Cave drove in three runs for Minnesota, which tied a season high with its fifth straight win.Gibson (10-13) allowed one run on three hits and three walks to lower his ERA to 3.62. He had a 5.07 ERA each of the past two seasons, but continued the growth he showed at the end of last season after returning from the minors.“Overall, it was just the mentality I was able to keep,” Gibson said. “Kind of the beauty of having your priorities straight and having a good, confident mentality is one start, whether it’s good or bad, isn’t going to take you too high or too low.”Chicago starter Carlos Rodon (6-8) was knocked out six batters into the second inning without retiring an out. He surrendered eight runs on six hits and four walks in his 21st start of the season after returning from shoulder surgery.“You know, I had some clarity coming back this year and pitching,” Rodon said. “Ate some innings and had some fun even though this last month hasn’t gone the way I’d like, but it was good. It was good to be back.”Rodon gave up 14 runs in 3 1/3 innings in his final two starts.“It wasn’t the way I’m sure he wanted it to finish and we didn’t either, but he’s given us a nice recovered season,” White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. “He’s made progress. He’s going to go into the end here healthy and being able to concentrate on getting himself ready for the coming season.”Chicago lost for the 10th time in 13 games and is 62-99. A loss Sunday would be the White Sox’s first 100-loss season since losing 106 games in 1970.AN UNWANTED RECORDChicago struck out nine times to set a major league record for a team in a season. White Sox batters have struck out 1 http://www.philliesfanproshop.com/authentic-jimmy-foxx-jersey ,579 times, breaking the mark of 1,571 set by the Milwaukee Brewers last season.Second baseman Yoan Moncado struck out for the 216th time, the highest total in the majors this season and the fourth-most in a single season in history.Moncado is three strikeouts behind Chris Davis, who had 219 in 2016. The record is held by Mark Reynolds, who struck out 223 times in 2009.TRAINER’S ROOMWhite Sox: C Omar Narvaez left the game in the third inning with low back stiffness. He was replaced by Kevan Smith. . SS Tim Anderson left the game in the fourth inning. Renteria said he’s been dealing with knee soreness and the cold weather caused the knee to stiffen. Renteria said he’ll see how Anderson feels before Sunday’s game to know whether he’ll play in the finale. Jose Rondon took Anderson’s place and twisted his ankle on a play at first base in the ninth but stayed in the game.Twins: Mitch Garver was out of the lineup a day after getting four hits and six RBIs because Molitor wanted to go with Tyler Austin and Mauer at first base and designated hitter, respectively. Garver recently returned from a concussion and won’t be used as a catcher again this season.UP NEXTMinnesota will end the season with rookie right-hander Zack Littell (0-2, 6.61 ERA) starting Sunday, with Chicago going with right-hander Dylan Covey (5-13, 5.06). It will be Littell’s eighth major league appearance and second start. His previous start was against the White Sox in his debut on June 5 when he gave up six runs in three innings. Covey is 0-6 with a 6.08 ERA over his last eight starts but has 12 scoreless innings over his past two starts. ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Shohei Ohtani knows what’s possible after Tommy John surgery from watching Andrew Heaney’s pitching performances this season for the Los Angeles Angels.At the plate, Ohtani keeps doing things that aren’t possible for many other sluggers.Ohtani hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning, sending the Angels to a 3-2 victory and a three-game sweep of the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night.Although he is scheduled for elbow ligament replacement surgery next week, Ohtani is still slugging away. He matched his professional single-season high for homers after hitting 22 in Japan two seasons ago.“It’s two completely different things — different countries, different pitchers, different ballparks, different balls,” Ohtani said. “But being able to accomplish my career high in my first year in the big leagues, it was a huge thing for me. I’m proud of that.”Ohtani had an early RBI single before he connected off Rangers reliever Chris Martin (1-5) Darren Daulton Jersey , his former teammate in Japan with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. The two-way rookie went the opposite way, bouncing it off the top of the left-field wall.“He’s a special hitter,” Texas interim manager Don Wakamatsu said. “He’s pulling balls down the right-field line. Then you put a ball a little elevated out and away, (and) he takes it away. It shows you what kind of leverage he has with that body.”The Angels were in position to win because of Heaney, who struck out 10 and yielded two runs over seven innings in a strong finish to the Angels left-hander’s first full season back from Tommy John.“He was very solid throughout the whole year, very consistent,” Ohtani said of Heaney. “I’m really impressed by how he was able to stay healthy and finish the season strong.”After making just six starts in the previous two years, Heaney was the only consistently successful starter in Los Angeles’ injury-wracked rotation this season. While pitching 180 innings, he became the first Angels left-hander to surpass 175 strikeouts since C.J. Wilson did it in 2013, and his 100 pitches against the Rangers were the most by any Angels pitcher since July 22.“I’m happy I kept us in it,” Heaney said. “Other than the first couple of weeks (of the season), being able to take the ball every fifth or sixth day, that’s what every pitcher wants to do. I think there’s still a lot of juice to be squeezed … but I’m proud of that.”Taylor Ward also homered for the Angels (78-81), who need three more victories in their season-ending series with Oakland to avoid having three consecutive losing seasons for the first time since 1992-94.Jose Alvarez (6-4) pitched a perfect eighth inning in his 76th appearance of the season. Jim Johnson pitched the ninth for his second save.Adrian Beltre and Jurickson Profar homered for the Rangers, who have lost four of five and eight of 10.Justin Upton doubled for the Angels’ first hit in the fourth inning and scored on a single by Ohtani, who has driven in runs in three consecutive games.ADRIAN’S BELTBeltre crushed his 15th homer of the season over the ficus trees in center field in the second inning, giving him eight homers in September during a fitting finish to what could be the final season of his remarkable career.“That’s the idea, but I don’t think as a team we are doing a good job right now,” Beltre said. “Obviously as a team we want to finish strong http://www.philliesfanproshop.com/authentic-maikel-franco-jersey , but individually I’m feeling a little better.”The RBI was the 39-year-old Beltre’s 1,704th, moving him even with Frank Thomas for 22nd in baseball history. He has 48 homers and 168 RBIs against the Angels, both tops for any opponent in his career.“You look up at the record books and he just keeps climbing in every category,” Wakamatsu said. “There is no mystery why he’s where he’s at. The work ethic, the character, the intelligence, it’s everything he puts in.”Beltre hasn’t decided whether to play again next season, but he got a warm send-off from his Dallas-area fans last weekend just in case.TRAINER’S ROOMRangers: SS Elvis Andrus was shaken up in the fifth inning when he broke his bat and hit himself in the back of the head with the barrel on his follow-through. Andrus didn’t really run to first while he was thrown out, and he walked gingerly back to the dugout, but stayed in the game.Angels: Reliever Ty Buttrey has been shut down for the season with right knee bursitis, Scioscia revealed after the game. Buttrey had been the Angels’ closer recently, and he has a 3.31 ERA and four saves since arriving in a midseason trade.UP NEXTRangers: Ariel Jurado (4-5, 6.66 ERA) takes the mound Thursday when Texas opens a four-game series at Seattle to close the regular season.Angels: After a day off, Jaime Barria (10-9, 3.54 ERA) will make the last start of his impressive rookie season Friday when the Angels open their final series at home against the Oakland Athletics.