The Twins struggled right before the all-star break as they fell to third in the division behind the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers. Entering into the second half, the White Sox had been the hottest team in baseball, and Detroit has a potential triple crown winner in Miguel Cabrera. The AL Central is heating up. The White Sox won their first game out of the break by beating the Twins 8-7 because of a bad pitching performance by Kevin Slowey.
However, the Twins took the next three games because of great pitching performances by Francisco Liriano and Carl Pavano. On Saturday, Carl Pavano pitched a complete game 3-2 victory over the Sox. This was Pavano's fourth complete game of the season,and it was his eleventh win. Pavano's pitching opponent, Mark Buerhle, also pitched a complete game, but Pavano was just a little bit better. Saturday's game lasted just one hour and fifty-two minutes. It had been the middle of the lineup for the Twins in the White Sox series that did most of the damage offensively including Mauer, Cuddyer, Kubel, and Thome, but the entire lineup contributed to help the Twins to three straight wins.
Danny Valencia has filled in nicely at third base where he has not made an error yet. J.J. Hardy has fully recovered from his wrist injury, and his offensive and defensive presence is being felt. With Justin Morneau out with concussion-like symptoms, Michael Cuddyer is taking over first. This means Jason Kubel can play right field, and Thome can swing the bat as the designated hitter on a daily basis.
Ozzie Guillen must be thrilled to be leaving Minnesota and the dangerous piranhas. Chicago now has lost three straight games, and they only lead the central by 1.5 games over the slumping Tigers and the resurgent Twins. This weekend Detroit got swept by the last place Indians in Cleveland in a four-game series, and the Indians will come to Target Field starting tomorrow for a three-game division matchup.
On Sunday, the Twins captured their first walk-off victory at Target Field. Nick Blackburn pitched five okay innings by keeping the ball low in the strike zone, but he gave his team a chance to win the ball game. The walk-off could not have come at a better time. In the ninth, Bobby Jenks walked Orlando Hudson and Joe Mauer to start the inning. Then, he gave up singles to both Kubel and Cuddyer before being pulled. The next Sox pitcher, Sergio Santos, walked Jason Repko. After five batters, there was still nobody out in the inning. Delmon Young stepped up to the plate. Young was the one who hit the two-run home run in the bottom of the second to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.
Delmon Young softly hit the ball into right-center, which allowed Kubel to score, and Cuddyer was able to cross the plate as the go-ahead run because of a wild throw by center fielder, Alex Rios. The Twins fought back to score four runs in the ninth, and they did not give up. On Sunday, the Twins won by a final score of 7-6. Three of the four games were decided by one run. Minnesota, like every other team, will go through ups and downs, but they must go out and play to win each and every game of the season.
After a good start to the second half of the season, the Twins now look forward to taking on Cleveland, Baltimore, and Kansas City in their next three series. All three of these teams have sub .500 records. Baltimore has the worst record in baseball. What a weekend for the Minnesota Twins.
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