The Twins finally won a game at Comerica Park after 7 straight losses there this season. Brad Radke held the Tigers to 2 runs through seven innings despite giving up 9 hits while Rincon and Nathan sealed the victory with scoreless 8th and 9th innings. The win put the Twins in a three way tie for the wildcard lead, pending the outcome of the White Sox and Yankees game. If the White Sox lose they'll fall a half game behind the Twins and Red Sox, but a win would put them alone in the lead.

The Twins got into an early 2-run deficit in the second when Dmitri Young tripled in Magglio Ordonez and later scored on a Sean Casey single. The Twins quickly tied up the game in the third. Nick Punto doubled to score Jason Bartlett and put Luis Castillo on third. Joe Mauer's sacrifice groundout tied the game. Joe Mauer added the go ahead run in the fifth on a double that scored Nick Punto.

Radke and the bullpen buckled down to hold off the Tigers for the rest of the game. The Twins gave Joe Nathan a bit of breathing room with an insurance run in the 9th produced by a Michael Cuddyer sacrfice groundout scoring Luis Castillo.

Game Notes

• Joe Mauer was 3-5 with 2 RBI
• Nick Punto was 3-5.
• Justin Morneau didn't get an RBI for the first time in 5 games. He had 11 RBI in the previous five games.
• Brad Radke earned his eleventh victory of the season.
• Joe Nathan recorded his 24th save of the year.

More rotation changes

It is almost certain that Francisco Liriano will visit the DL after leaving Monday nights game after four innings with pain in his arm. Apparently he also lied to the coaches about how he was feeling and probably shouldn't have been pitching at all on Monday. The Twins will probably wait for the team medical staff to look at his arm before making a decision on whether to place him on the DL, but it's probably safe to say that if 10 days didn't heal him before he'll probably need at least 15 to heal this time. Hopefull the Twins can hang in there until he comes back.

The Twins have also called up Matt Garza who is expected to make his major league debut for the Twins on Friday night at home against Toronto. Matt Garza's ascent to the majors has been pretty impressive. He was the Twins top pick just last year and he started the season at A level. He dominated there and was moved along to AA where he also dominated. He has been just as good at AAA and now he'll get a chance to prove himself at the pro level. I'm not about to think that he'll be a dominant force in the rotation. He's a good pitcher, but it's unrealistic to expect him to be spectacular. Not every young pitcher comes up and dominates like Liriano has in his rookie year. It would be extremely satisfying just to see Garza solidify that fifth (or perhaps fourth) spot in the rotation.

More on Garza

Garza has a good fastball which may spell trouble when he's up against major league hitters. It isn't so easy to blow a fastball by a major league hitter as it is against minor leaguers. He's also been rushed extremely quickly through the system, so it would certainly be no surprise if he's a little unpolished. For more info, read Scout.com's preseason report on Garza.