The Texas Rangers have been among the worst hitting teams in the majors this season. But don’t be fooled by that, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli cautioned before the game.

“They haven’t swung it this year so far,” Baldelli said pregame. “But if you look at their lineup, it’s a very dangerous lineup.”

It sure was on Tuesday. Hours after he said that, the Rangers erupted for a season-high 16 runs on 17 hits in a 16-4 walloping of the Twins in the series opener at Target Field.

After skirting around trouble in his first three innings, Simeon Woods Richardson, recalled from Triple-A on Tuesday, couldn’t evade it in the fourth inning. The inning began when Byron Buxton couldn’t handle a ball hit at him that he leapt for and got a glove on. The play went for a two-base error, setting the stage for what would become a three-run inning for the Rangers (32-35).

“You can’t control that,” Woods Richardson said of the defense behind him, which committed two errors. “I also didn’t do my part as well. I didn’t throw as many strikes. It didn’t help them, so I think it was a combination of everything. There’s going to be days like that, but I guess I felt fine, did the best I could.”

The Rangers busted the game open an inning later, scoring five runs in the fifth inning and knocking Woods Richardson out. All of those runs came with two outs in the inning as the Rangers recorded five straight hits off Woods Richardson and reliever Justin Topa.

“He was battling through the outing. … As the outing went on, there were some baserunners,” Baldelli said. “They got on in different ways. There were a couple walks and they hit some balls hard. It just kind of piled up.”

Two more runs scored in the sixth inning off Justin Topa, and the Rangers rocked Jorge Alcala for six (five earned) in the eighth inning.

While every Ranger in the starting lineup finished with at least one hit, the bulk of the damage came from the bottom of the order with their six through nine hitters driving in 14 of their 16 runs. No. 6 hitter Evan Carter drove in three runs, Josh Jung another four, Adolis García two of them and Kyle Higashioka, batting at the bottom of the lineup, led the team with five runs batted in.

Though the Twins (35-31) collected 12 hits of their own, they would never recover after falling into the three-run deficit in the fourth inning. Ty France smacked a high fastball off the wall in right field to drive in the Twins’ first run of the game, and Royce Lewis added an RBI knock later in fourth.

The Twins scored once more in the fifth inning, and Matt Wallner hit his fourth home run since returning from the injured list on May 31 in the sixth inning for their final run of the day. All four of those runs came off former Twins starter Tyler Mahle, who threw 5 2/3 innings and picked up the win in his return to Target Field.

“They obviously swung the bats pretty good (Tuesday), gave them some tough at-bats, shot some balls the other way, stayed through some breaking (balls),” Baldelli said. “They did it in a number of different ways. But we can play better than what we showed out there … on all sides of the ball.”

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The St. Paul Public Schools board of education unanimously approved a $1 billion budget for the upcoming school year on Tuesday. An estimated $51.1 million budget shortfall is to be covered by $35.5 million in reserve funds and $15.6 million in budget cuts and new revenue under the budget.

Of the overall budget reductions, 74%, or $11.5 million, come from cuts in central office departments – 8% of the district’s total budget – including Schools and Learning, administration and operations and financial services, human resources and equity, strategy and innovation. Those departments will have cuts in staffing, contracts and vendor services, travel and supplies and service levels.

Feedback this year from the community and board members encouraged district officials to look toward central office administration when making reductions, said Jackie Turner, executive chief of administration and operations.

“And we heard that as, stay away from the schools as much as you can,” Turner said. “And I believe that the budget you see tonight does all of those things.”

Drawing from the district’s fund balance for the budget shortfall will maintain programs and services as much as possible, district officials said. They attribute the shortfall to state funding not keeping pace with inflation in the past 20 years and increased expenses. They also acknowledged that future adjustments may need to be made to the budget.

Referendum

During its May meeting, the board approved a resolution directing the district administration to prepare a November referendum recommendation for additional district revenue. Ballot language is expected to come before the board in July.

The results of that referendum and as well as changes to enrollment may necessitate future budget adjustments, according to district officials.

“But I do hope that folks in our community who had concerns about the budget and the way that we’re spending money, maybe there was something they cared about … that they will continue to speak to us if the concerns that they had bear out to be true,” board member Uriah Ward said.

Changes

While the board passed an approximately $1 billion budget last year — this year’s budget is around $8 million less — board members praised the increase in transparency this time around.

Key components of the budget are construction and debt service, said district budget chief Tom Sager. The district’s capital projects fund is $118.9 million.

Additional revenue will not only include the proposed referendum, but also potential reductions in the district’s facilities portfolio, said SPPS Superintendent Stacie Stanley.

Some changes to the approved budget since the board’s May meeting include $543,000 added from the general fund to reinstate some positions and programming in Early Childhood Family Education, or ECFE — a voluntary program for parents and their children below the age for kindergarten enrollment. Parents and community members in April had spoken against previously proposed cuts to the program. $60,000 was also added to the budget for student engagement support.

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Cretin-Derham Hall’s Sam Udovich and Forest Lake’s Bella Leonhart will each sleep on the lead ahead of the final day of the Class 3A state golf tournament.

Leonhart shot a 71 at Bunker Hills in Coon Rapids on Tuesday morning to take a one-stroke lead into Wednesday’s final round.

The Rangers senior has a one-shot advantage over Orono’s Ava Hanneman, Minnetonka’s Selena Wu and Wayzata’s Lauren Chambs. Six players are within two shots of the lead heading into what figures to be a thrilling final round.

Meanwhile, Minnetonka has a comfortable 19-shot lead over second-place Maple Grove in the team competition.

In the afternoon, Udovich fired an impressive 66 to carry a four-stroke lead into the final round. Edina’s Torger Ohe, Orono’s Dylan Kringen and Chanhassen’s Lucas Arntsen are tied for second.

Udovich’s teammate, Joe Honsa, is one of five players in a tie for fifth after recording a 71 to open the tournament.

The showings from Udovich and Honsa have the Raiders in the top spot in the team competition, though they lead Chanhassen by just one stroke. Alexandria and Rosemount are each 12 shots back of Cretin-Derham Hall.

Hill-Murray’s girls team is in third place in the Class 2A team competition after Day 1, 27 shots behind first-place Detroit Lakes. Totino-Grace senior Kaitlyn Burstad is in third in the individual competition after shooting an opening-round 75, two shots behind Pequot Lakes’ Genevieve Birkeland.