Nick Tepesch pitched a fine game against the Twins Thursday night, allowing one run in 6 2/3 innings on a Josh Willingham home run. He and the bullpen needed to pitch that well as the Rangers take the game 2-1. Coming into the game, Nick had struck out 13 batters in 14 2/3 innings, but allowed 15 hits. Usually a high K rate leads to few hits allowed. Thursday night, the rookie only K’d one batter, but it took the Twins until the fifth inning to get their first hit, and Tepesch allowed just five in his outing. With no walks, pitching to contact worked for the young man, who had great movement on his pitches. Nick lowered his ERA to .253, and is holding opponents to a .279 OBP.