The Angels gave the Twins every opportunity to win this game, yet it still took 10 innings for the Twins to finally squeeze out a victory in the high scoring affair. Mistakes by the Angels included 2 errors, a balk and 7 walks by Angel pitching.

With the Twins down 10-9 in the bottom of the ninth, they managed to load the bases with no outs. Mauer reached on an infield single, and probably could have been out if the grounder was played better. Ruben Sierra walked, and then Hunter singled to load them up. Ineptitude took over as Morneau fouled out along 3rd base and Batista struck out. Just when it looked like the Angels were going to get out of the jam, K-Rod walked Lew Ford to bring in the tying run.

Joe Nathan pitched a scoreless 10th for the Twins. In the bottom of the 10th Luis Castillo was walked by former Twin, J.C. Romero, with 1 out. Castillo stole second and then Mauer grounded out to advance him to 3rd. The aggresive baserunning didn’t matter though, because pinch hitter, Michael Cuddyer, hit a walk-off homerun to right-center. It was nice to see Romero, who blew plenty of games for the Twins the past two seasons, give one back to us. It was also nice to see Michael Cuddyer succeed in a clutch situation.

The win brings the Twins back to .500 with a 7-7 record. Things really aren’t going that bad considering the teams we’ve played, though getting swept by Cleveland is something I still haven’t gotten over.

Game Notes

• Rondell White was finally given a day off. Ruben Sierra was the DH and batted cleanup. He was 1-for-4 with a double and a walk.
• I was surprised to see Redmond get the start at catcher today; I thought it’d come tomorrow. Anyway, it was great to see Mauer used as a pinch hitter, something many of us have been calling for more of. However, it may have had something to do with Redmond getting a little roughed up in a play at the plate.
• Batista is coming back to reality. Another 0-for-4 night puts his average at .244.
• Kyle Lohse was bad tonight. He managed to give up 8 runs through 3 1/3 innings. It’s really pretty amazing that the Twins are at .500 considering the lackluster starting pitching they’ve had through the first 2+ weeks of the season.
• I wasn’t sure if it would ever happen, but Fransisco Liriano gave up his first run of the year. His ERA skyrocketed to 0.96.

Around the Division

• The White Sox got another freeby victory against Kansas City, winning 4-0. Javier Vasquez gave up just 2 hits in 8 innings. The Sox are 10-5 and atop the central division.
• After hammering Baltimore 15-1 last night, the Indians got payback tonight. They were taken down 18 to 9 tonight. Westbrook started for Cleveland.
• Detroit is currently all over Oakland tonight, 10-1 in the 8th. A nice start for the Gambler, Kenny Rogers.