ARLINGTON -- For most of the season, it’s felt like the Rangers’ offense was playing catch-up with the pitching. The top of the rotation chugged through various lineups in the American League, while the offense struggled to put runs on the board.

The exact opposite was the case against the Twins this weekend. The offense bailed out Texas’ best pitchers in Martín Pérez and Jon Gray in the first two wins, but it wasn’t quite able to go the distance and complete the three-game sweep on Sunday afternoon.

Texas starter Dane Dunning gave up four runs on six hits and four walks -- plus an RBI hit-by-pitch -- in just 2 1/3 innings, but the Rangers eventually fell, 6-5, at Globe Life Field. Dunning exited the game after issuing three straight walks and a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch in the third inning.

“I think our pitching has been pretty good all year,” manager Chris Woodward said. “But those last couple spots in the rotation, somebody's going to step up and give us some innings or some quality starts. We can't run our bullpen like we did today. They're really good, but if we keep doing that, it's going to hurt them.

“The pitching has been pretty good and the offense is starting to pick it up. We'd just like both to click on all cylinders. I don't think they quite have all year.”

The Twins scored in each of the first three innings and again in the sixth and seventh. What was ultimately the winning run came on an errant pickoff throw from reliever Matt Bush.

Woodward noted that this is a game that truly shows how small the Rangers’ margin for error is right now.

“We lost by one, so those two plays [bases-loaded hit-by-pitch and errant throw], obviously we just gave them two free runs,” Woodward said. “That's the margin sometimes. I thought outside of that we actually did a decent job. Those things are going to happen and the offense kind of battled through. We were just one run short because we made a few mistakes out there.”

The Rangers’ offense almost single-handedly won the game once again. All but two Texas hitters reached base at least once, while Corey Seager and Brad Miller both had a two-hit game.

The highlight came from rookie third baseman Josh H. Smith, whose bases-clearing double tied the game at 3 in the second inning. Smith -- ranked as the club’s No. 8 prospect by MLB Pipeline -- recorded more RBIs in that one at-bat (three) than in his first 19 big league games combined (two).

“I think a lot of things are coming together,” Woodward said. “And I think the group is actually coming together. A lot of guys are having really good ball talk and they have really good preparation before the games. The consistency in the at-bats have been pretty good. We're putting pressure on a lot of teams, and I just knew that was going to happen. Certain guys that have a track record, they're going to hit and I think everybody's kind of feeding off of that. It's nice to see it, we've just got to keep it going.”

In the three games against the Twins, the Rangers’ offense hit .317/.405/.587 with four home runs (three from Seager), 15 RBIs and just 14 strikeouts as the top and middle of the lineup began producing more than it has recently.

On the other end, Texas pitchers posted a 5.00 ERA, while Minnesota hitters slashed a combined .264/.321/.431. It was even more shocking considering Pérez, who was named a first-time All-Star on Sunday, and Gray started the first two games and the bullpen had been lights out in recent weeks.

Woodward sees the weekend as a step forward, even as the Rangers failed to sweep the AL Central leaders.

“We’ve still got a lot of games left and hopefully at some point they do [click], where we just kind of right the ship in the rotation outside of Martín and Jon Gray,” Woodward said. “If we could just get those other guys to have consistent quality starts, with the way the bullpen is throwing and the way our offense is hitting, we’ll be in good shape.”