The Twins nearly took full advantage of the Los Angeles Angels' sweeping of the Royals this weekend, but a late inning bullpen collapse cost them a sweep of their own.

Nick Blackburn bounced back on Sunday from a horrendous May 5th start by pitching 7 shutout innings against the Seattle Mariners.

He handed a 2-run lead over to Jose Mijares in the eighth inning. Mijares gave up a walk and then a game tying 2-run homer to Ken Griffey Jr. Jesse Crain was then called in, but failed to even record a single out. He gave up 2 singles, threw a wild pitch and then allowd a double before Matt Guerrier was called upon to clean up the mess. That quickly the Twins were down 4-2.

Seattle added another run in the 9th, and the Twins threatened in the bottom of the 9th, but were only able to score 1 run and then they left the bases loaded.

The Twins' starting pitcher hasn't been the most consistent so far this year, but the bullpen has been awful. Something has to change...I just don't know what that change could be right now.

Game Notes

• Joe Mauer was the DH and went 2-4 with a walk. He's hitting .485/.553/.848 through 33 at-bats on the season.
• Carlos Gomez started in CF and was 1-4.

Preparing for Detroit

The Twins are off on Monday and will then host Detroit for a 3-game series. Detroit won 3-straight over the weekend and have taken over the division lead from Kansas City.

The Twins will head to the New Yankee stadium this weekend.