Hitting grand slams has become commonplace for the Twins over the past week. Michael Cuddyer did it last Wednesday and Saturday. Tonight it was Jason Kubel—in dramatic 12th inning fashion. After Jesse Crain gave up the lead in the top of the 12th the Twins entered the bottom of the inning down by 2-1. Joe Mauer struck out to start the inning, but Michael Cuddyer was hit by a pitch to start a 1-out rally. Justin Morneau hit a drive that bounced over the outfield wall for a ground-rule double, preventing Cuddyer from scoring the winning run. Hunter was walked to set up a double play, but Kubel ruined Boston's plans by hitting a game-ending grand slam.

Kubel wasn't the only hero of this game. Johan Santana was on. He struck out the first 5 batters he faced and went on to strike out 13 through 8 innings. His only flaw was the 7th inning solo homer he gave up to Jason Varitek. Michael Cuddyer followed up with a solo shot of his own to tie the game in the bottom of the 7th.

I was happy to see Gardy use Nathan to pitch the 9th. Rincon pitched a sollid 10th and 11th, but then Gardy brought out the last guy I wanted to see in a tight situation, Jesse Crain. Crain, of course, did as expected and gave up a walk, 2 hits and a run. Dennys Reyes was brought in to complete the inning, so fortunately Crain didn't get credited with the win.

Game Notes

• Cuddyer now has 10 homers and 33 RBIs on the season, not bad for a guy who wasn't a starter at the beginning of the season.
• Joe Mauer got a hit his first at-bat, but then went 0-4 the rest of the game.
• Justin Morneau continues to hit well; he had a 3-hit night including the 12th inning double.
• Johan Santana recorded his 1000th career strikeout in the game. Congrats to him. He gave up just 5 hits and no walks. It's a shame he was robbed of another win.
• Punto made a diving stop up the middle in the top of the 12th to possibly save more than 1 run from scoring (not that it would've mattered with the grand slam).

Looking Ahead

Wednesday features a matchup of Brad Radke vs. Matt Clement. Clement has been pretty bad this year for the BoSox while Radke has managed to put together a few pretty decent starts. I'm cautiously optimistic about the Twins chances.