Another Sweep Dodgers 3 at Twins 6 June 28th, 2006 at 7:01 pm

By Kris Richardson

The Twins completed their fourth series sweep in the month of June. They’ve swept half their series in the month and won 6 out of 8 after losing the first two series in the month. The Tigers also completed a sweep Wednesday—against the Astros, so once again the Twins will gain no ground on them. Interleague play can surely result in some bizarre things, and when the leagues are so obviously unbalanced the results are even more strange. The Twins have 9 games remaining until the All-Star break and then they’ll get back into some games against their division rivals in late July.

Some may attribute the Twins hot-streak to the fact that they’re playing not-so-good teams, so July should give them an opportunity to prove those people right or wrong. Personally, I think the Twins are playing very well and it wouldn’t matter much who they’re playing right now.

With Santana on the mound, Wednesday’s game was as good as over after the first inning. Joe Mauer started a 2-out rally in the first with another single. Cuddyer and Morneau also singled to load up the bases for Torii Hunter. Hunter hit the fifth Twins grand slam of the season to put the Twins up 4-0. The Twins added 2 runs in the fifth on back-to-back-to-back doubles by Mauer, Cuddyer and Morneau.

Santana pitched 7 innings of shutout, 2 hit ball. Juan Rincon got a couple bad breaks on hits up the middle in the eigth but also walked a batter and gave up a bases clearing double to Olmedo Saenz. On the bright side, the 3 runs set up a save opportunity for Joe Nathan. Nathan, as he often does, struck out the side in the ninth to pick up his 13th save.

Game Notes

Joe Mauer was 2-3 with a single, double and walk. He’s batting a ridiculous .392. Mauer DH’d while Redmond caught.
Justin Morneau was 3-4 with 2 doubles.
Micheal Cuddyer had a single and a double in the game.
Santana is 5-0 in June with a 1.05 ERA. He hasn’t allowed more than 1 ER or 5 hits in a start in June. In other words, the Twins can’t lose when he pitches.
Luis Castillo and Lew Ford were both 0-4 and the only two without a hit.