Winning the series against Cleveland was certainly not expected the way the Twins limped into Cleveland after being clobbered in Toronto. With C.C. Sabathia on the mound for Cleveland it seemed even less likely the Twins could win the rubber game of the series.

Matt Garza left after six innings, giving up just 1 run but still trailing thanks to the Twins' hopeless offense. Something finally happened in the eighth inning when Jason Tyner singled after being hit in the back by Sabathia. With 2 outs Mike Redmond delivered a game tying double. Joe Mauer then hit what should've been an inning-ending grounder to shortstop but Josh Barfield made 2 errors on the play--first bobbling the ball then throwing that ball past first baseman Ryan Garko. The error allowed pinch-runner Luis Rodriguez to score the go-ahead run and then Justin Morneau added a double to score Mauer.

Lew Ford added a solo home run in the 9th inning and Joe Nathan picked up the save despite giving up a couple hits.

Game Notes

• Dennys Reyes pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to get the Win.
• Nathan recorded his second consecutive save and 22nd of the season
• Morneau had 2 hits in the game and drove in his 89th RBI of the season in the eighth inning.
• Garza struck out 11 through six innings and allowed 5 hits and 3 walks

Jeremy Bonderman's Tigers were clobbered by the Angels Sunday night, sending them to their 4th straight loss and reducing their lead over the Twins to "only" 7 games. The Twins also trail Cleveland for the wild card by 6 1/2 games (with the Mariners and Yankees wedged in between). Interviews heading into the weekend indicated that Terry Ryan still had interest in bringing in extra help and the weekend victories could only help the odds of that, but it still seems unlikely he'd invest too much in trying to make a run this season.

Coming up

The KC Royals will ride their 4-game winning streak into the Metrodome Monday night to kick off a 4-game series. The Twins have just Monday night's game remaining before Tuesday afternoon's trade deadline.

They'll then host the Indians for the weekend which will give them a nice opportunity to show if they're serious about contending for the AL wild-card.