The Twins snapped their 2-game skid with a convincing win that was broken open with a 5-run seventh inning for the Twins. Edwin Jackson and Francisco Liriano had been dueled to a 1-1 tie in the preceding six innings.

Liriano put together his best start of the season, allowing 2 runs on just 4 hits and 3 walks. More importantly, he struck out a season high 9 batters, which is tied for the most since his dominate stint in 2006. In terms of innings pitched, it was also his most successful effort of the year. After witnessing Scott Baker's sudden collapse on Sunday afternoon, Ron Gardenhire wasted no time pullling Liriano when he ran into trouble in the eighth inning (the pitch count of 103 had a lot to do with it too).

Matt Guerrier came in to relieve Liriano and successfully finished out the game without allowing a hit. Guerrier has again become one of the Twins' more reliable relief options, after his worrisome 2008 season. Guerrier has not allowed a run in 6 appearances (8.0 IP) since April 17th.

Michael Cuddyer might be turning the page on a slow start to the 2009 season. He was 2-3 last night with a 2-run triple in the seventh inning. He has had 2 hits in each of the past 3 games and has a 6-game hit streak going after bottoming out with a .208 batting average on April 27th. Also of interest is that he has 2 triples in the past week. For a guy that has never topped 5 triples in a season, that's a pretty good week.

Game Notes

• Denard Span had a 4-5 game. He's batting .323 with an impressive .398 on-base percentage this year.
• Liriano earned just his first win of the season. He's 1-4 for the season.
• Joe Mauer was 0-5 with 2-strikeouts.

Next Game

Nick Blackburn (2-1, 4.02), who is coming off two quality starts, will take on 20 year-old Rick Porcello (1-3, 6.23), who has struggled to start the season, especially in his last outing. He lasted just 3.2 innings and allowed 6 runs to the Yankees.