The Twins went into extra inning for the first time of the season on Monday night against Cleveland. Carlos Silva held Cleveland scoreless until the fifth, but he managed to rack up a high pitch count before that point. Early in the game Silva was pulling the same stunts as his past three starts–he was stranding base runners. Things finally caught up to him when Victor Martinez came to bat with 2 outs and 2 on in the fifth inning. He hit a no-doubter to give the Indians a 3-run lead. Silva completed five and allowed 7 hits and 2 walks. He did strike out 6.

For the second straight night the Twins’ bats were getting shut down by a little-known lefty. Jeremy Sowers did allow plenty of hits. In fact, the Twins got at least a single off him in every inning but the fourth. Unfortunately, they couldn’t put anything together for runs until the seventh. Torii Hunter provided a quick run with a solo home run, but the bottom of the lineup kept it going. With two outs Jason Kubel walked and then Jason Bartlett singled to set up runners on the corners. Alexi Casilla then came up with a clutch double down the left field line to score two runs and tie the game.

The game would then remain tied at 3 until things came apart for the Twins’ bullpen in the 12th. Things started off with a Travis Hafner walk from Jesse Crain and then Martinez singled. Ryan Garko singled in the go-ahead run and Jason Michaels provided insurance with a 2-run double. Joe Nathan was brought into the game and allowed a walk and a single before settling down to strike out the next two batters. In the end, Crain was charged with 4 runs in the inning and ultimately got the loss.

It’s late, so apologies for no line score today. Here’s a link to the box score.

Game Notes

• The middle infielders, Casilla and Bartlett, were the offensive heroes of the night. Each had 2 hits (including a double for each) with Casilla getting two thirds of the RBIs.
• Torii Hunter hit his third homer of the year
• Joe Mauer was 2 for 4 in the game to push his average to .400. He’s tied with a few guys, including Alex Rodriguez for the AL batting lead. Speaking of A-Rod, he hit his 13th and 14th homers in another Yankee loss.
• I’m beginning to tire of Dennys Reyes. It’s becoming common for him to enter the game, face a couple batters, give up a walk or a couple hits, and then leave without retiring a batter.
• Pat Neshek cleaned up the bases loaded mess created by Juan Rincon and Reyes in the ninth inning with an inning-ending strikeout of Ryan Garko. Neshek is a guy I feel pretty confident with in big situations.

The Twins bullpen is beat up right now. Everyone was used in Monday night’s game with the exception of Matt Guerrier. With no off day until next Monday, Johan Santana’s Tuesday night start couldn’t come at a better time.