Liriano ends Twins' skid Twins 4 at Rangers 0 July 8th, 2006 at 11:30 pm
There are two guys the Twins can count on to pull out a win in almost any circumstance—Johan Santana and Francisco Liriano. After losing three straight the Twins had those two going back-to-back to finish the first half of the season. Liriano did just as expected—he shut down the Rangers and led the Twins to a 4-0 victory. He improved his MLB best ERA to 1.83 and his 8 strikeouts brought his season total to 102 in just 88 1/3 IP.
The Twins were facing mediocre lefty John Rheinecker and managed to get 9 hits in 6 innings. They resulted in only 3 runs though. The Twins added one run in the ninth to take away the save opportunity from Joe Nathan. All three of the Twins runs in the fifth came with 2 outs. After Michael Cuddyer led off with a single, Justin Morneau hit into a double play. Torii Hunter hit a solo homerun for the first run of the game. Shannon Stewart and Lew Ford singled and Jason Bartlett’s sixth double of the season scored both of them.
Game Notes
- Nick Punto was 3-4 with 3 singles as he pushed his average near .300 to .298.
- Morneau extended his hit-streak to 15 games with a ninth inning single.
- Torii Hunter hit his 14th homer of the year and got his 49th RBI.
- Joe Mauer had a rare 0-4 night.
- Juan Rincon and Joe Nathan pitched the 8th and 9th innings, respectively, to complete Liriano’s shutout.
Santana on Sunday
A day after Liriano picked up his 10th win of the season, Santana will try to match it in Arlington. Detroit, Boston and New York (AL) already have two 10 game winners.
Like what you're reading? Subscribe to our RSS feed.
Search
Similar Entries
Partners