Santana helps Twins win series Twins 7 at Marlins 4 June 24th, 2007 at 11:30 pm
The Twins scored first in the game when Joe Mauer hit a solo homerun, just his second of the year, off start Byun-Hyun Kim. Johan Santana gave away the lead in the bottom of the inning on a Dan Uggla homerun, but he then helped the Twins regain the lead for good in the next inning.
With Nick Punto on first base after a single, Johan misunderstood the bunt sign and instead tripled over the outfielders’ heads. That put the Twins up 2-1 and then Johan scored the third run on a Jason Bartlett sac fly.
Santana allowed no more runs through the next five innings and left the game with just 5 hits allowed and 8 strikeouts through 6 innings. Santana appears to be finding his form.
Mauer hit a second homerun in the sixth inning with Bartlett on base. Offensively the Twins had an efficient day. They scored 7 runs on 7 hits, but were helped with 6 walks from Marlins pitching.
With Morneau out and Luis Castillo complaining of soreness the Twins had a unique batting order with Bartlett leading off, Jeff Cirillo in the #2 hole and Mauer batting third.
Game Notes
- Jeff Cirillo’s hot streak halted on Sunday with an 0 for 5 day at the plate.
- Joe Mauer drove in 3 runs for the second consecutive day and hit his 2nd and 3rd homers of the year. Both shots looked identical, pulled to right field.
- Santana’s record improved to 8-6 on the year.
The Twins are now 38-35 on the season and trail the Tigers by 6.5 games and the Indians by 4.5.
Morneau update
As expected, Morneau stayed behind in Florida after suffering a bruised lung in Friday night’s game. On Sunday Morneau was expected to be released from the Hospital and cleared to fly back to the Twins cities. Morneau is still day-to-day at this point.
The Twins will open a 4-game home series, the last home series before the All-Star break, on Monday night against Toronto. There will be an interesting pitching matchup: The young Kevin Slowey (2-0, 4.43) will take on former Cy Young winnner Roy Halladay (8-2, 4.08).
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