Francisco Liriano had his best start of the season as he pitched 7 shutout innings and allowed just 1 hit and 2 walks. Liriano struck out 6 Oriole batters and more importantly went deeper into the game than he has all season. Liriano's performance set up the perfect pitching situation for the Twins with Rincon coming in for a solid 8th inning and Nathan finishing up the game in the ninth. Overall the Orioles were held to just 3 hits and 3 walks.

After Hunter's struggles Saturday night (and in prior games), Gardenhire shook up the lineup by moving Torii to 6th in the lineup and last night's big hitter, Michael Cuddyer, batted cleanup in the game. Cuddyer didn't fair too well in his first game at cleanup. He struck out all four times at bat, though one of the strikeouts only occurred in the mind of home plate umpire Ed Rapuano. On a check swing Rapuano claimed the ball got a peice of the bat and called Cuddyer out on strikes. Gardy was thrown out in the 4th arguing that call. Justin Morneau answered the horrible call with a 2-run homer to put the Twins on the board.

The Twins added 2 more runs in the 6th with doubles from Nick Punto and Tony Batista and a single from Luis Castillo, who broke a month long RBI-less streak with the hit.

Game Notes

• Morneau's hot streak continued as he was 2-4 at the plate with another 2 RBIs.
• Luis Castillo was 2-4 in the game, hopefully a sign of things to come.
• Rondell White struggled again with an 0-3 day. He walked once.
• Liriano picked up his fifth win of the year. His ERA sits at 2.10

Looking Ahead

The Twins will have Monday off and then host Boston for a three game series with Johan Santana starting things off against Curt Schilling.