The Twins dug themselves a six run hole on Saturday night and they nearly worked themselves out of it, but Detroit added a couple late insurance runs to hold on to the lead. Brad Radke pitched only 3 innings and he ran into trouble in all of them. He gave up 7 hits and 4 runs before Kyle Lohse came in for the fourth. Lohse quickly gave up a two-run homer in the fourth to put the Twins down by 6. He did, however, come back with 2 scoreless innings.

The Twins started to put some runs on the board in the fourth when Justin Morneau hit his 28th homer of the season with Michael Cuddyer on first. Josh Rabe hit his first career homerun, also a 2-run shot, in the 7th. The Twins added another run later that inning on a Luis Castillo sacrifice fly to bring them within 1 run. That didn't last for long, however, as the Tigers added a run in each of the eighth and ninth innings.

The Twins made some noise against Tiger closer Todd Jones in the bottom of the ninth with 3 singles that scored 1 run. By then, the gap was too much to overcome in one inning and the night ended with a 2 run deficit.

Game Notes

• Nick Punto's hit streak ended at 19 games. He was 0-5.
• Rondell White and Jason Tyner were 3-4 with a combined 3 runs scored.
• Justin Morneau hit a single in addition to his homer. He has 86 RBI on the season and is batting a healthy .317.
• Pat Neshek struk out 3 in 1 2/3 innings, but also gave up his second career solo homer. Neshek's awkward delivery as not as effective against lefties.
• Dennys Reyes, who pitched 2/3 of an inning was the only of 5 Twins pitchers that didn't allow a run.

Santana to Salvage the Series?

Fortunately the Twins will have Johan Santana pitching on Sunday, so a sweep certainly isn't imminent. As I said yesterday, the Twins are at least putting up a good fight against baseball's best team, and in July that's what really matters.

More on Soriano

In yesterday's entry I ended by questioning if Soriano in the lineup would've made a difference in the 3-2 loss. I guess I could pose the same question for Saturday's game. ESPN writers are still throwing the Twins around as a contender for Soriano. As of Saturday night the Twins and Angels seemed to be the favorites to get him. I don't like the idea of trading away the future for a 2-month rental, but I think if the Twins can pull off a deal that doesn't involve Matt Garza, then they should consider it. The offensive ability of Soriano could be the difference between making the playoffs or not.

The Twins, with Liriano and Santana, are too dangerous in 5 and 7 game series to risk not making it to the postseason.