Santana and Morneau dominate Rangers Twins 7 at Tigers 1 May 22nd, 2007 at 10:20 pm
Johan Santana entered Tuesday’s game against Texas coming off his most dominate start of the season last week in Cleveland. On Tuesday night he did even better. He had 7 strikeouts through three innings and left the game after the seventh with a season high 13 strikeouts. His only run allowed was on Sammy Sosa’s 598th career homer.
Justin Morneau provided all the offense the Twins would need with his second 2 homerun game of the season. He hit a 2-run homer in the fourth inning and then added some insurance with a 3-run blast in the next inning. They were Morneau’s 12th and 13th homers of the season which moves Morneau a couple closer to Alex Rodriguez’s AL leading 18. He also drove in 5 runs to increase his RBI total to 32.
Morneau is off to a considerably better start this year than last year when he won the MVP. Here’s the comparison through May 22nd each year:
| Year | HR | RBI | AVG | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 9 | 33 | .243 | .306 | .472 |
| 2007 | 13 | 32 | .285 | .362 | .570 |
Notice the nearly .100 point difference in slugging.
Torii Hunter provided the Twins’ other 2 runs with an eighth inning homer. It was Hunter’s 11th homer and 38th and 39th RBIs of the season.
Game Notes
- Jason Bartlett sat out a second game with neck and shoulder pain. Nick Punto went 0-3 in the 9 hole and played SS. Luis Rodriguez got another start at 3rd.
- Morneau was the DH with Jeff Cirillo getting a start at 1B. Morneau provided the first two homers from the DH role for the Twins this year.
- Santana improved to 5-4 on the season and moved himself into the lead league with 80 Ks
- Jason Kubel played left and went 1 for 4 with a double.
- Pat Neshek and Joe Nathan were used in the 8th and 9th innings, respectively.
Cleveland and Detroit lost allowing the Twins and White Sox to each gain a game on them in the standings. The Twins currently sit 7 games behind Cleveland.
Boof Bonser will try to keep his momentum going into Wednesday’s rubber match against Texas righty Robinson Tejada. A win would give the Twins a 4-5 road trip and a second series victory heading into an off day on Thursday. The game begins at 1:05 CT.
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