Seattle held a narrow 1-run lead against Johan Santana and the Twins for most of this game, but the Twins were able to put together a big inning in the seventh and hold off a ninth inning charge from the Mariners to win the game and sweep the 3 game series. The Mariners scored first when Ichiro reached on a Jason Bartlett throwing error. Ichiro was thrown caught in a run-down later in the inning between third and home, but it allowed Jose Vidro to move to second and be driven in by a Raul Ibanez single.

The Twins tied up the game in the second with three singles from Justin Morneau, Josh Rabe and Jason Tyner. Yuniesky Betancourt led off the third inning with a homerun to give Seattle a lead they would hold until the seventh inning. Meanwhile Santana settled in to pitch four scoreless innings after the third.

Just when it looked like Santana would lose another win because of lacking run support the Twins broke the game open in the seventh. In the oddest of ways, the rally started with three straight bunts: hits from Jason Bartlett and Alexi Cassilla, and a sacrifice from Nick Punto. Joe Mauer was intentionally walked to load the bases and Michael Cuddyer stepped up with a 2-run double. Justin Morneau was then walked to load the bases up again and Mike Redmond made them pay with his second hit of the season–a single that drove in 2 runs.

Johan pitched a scoreless seventh inning and then Jesse Crain came on to pitch a quick eighth inning. With no save opportunity, Gardy brought in Pat Neshek to close out the game. Neshek gave up a single to Ichiro and walked Vidro before giving up a 3-run homer to Ibanez to bring the game within 1. At that point it was time to call on Nathan for the save. With Nathan’s recent struggles, the save was anything but a sure thing.

Richie Sexson got a double on what should’ve been an out when Cuddyer completely lost the ball in the sun. However, Nathan came back with a strikeout of Jose Guillen to win the game, sweep the series and record his fifth save of the season.

Full Box	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Twins	1	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	0	6	13	1
Mariners	1	0	1	0	0		0	0	3	5	7	1

Game Notes

• Torii Hunter sat out for a second day after injuring his should on Tuesday night.
• Luis Castillo pulled up lame as he rounded 1st to go to second on his double in the fifth. I have yet to hear the seriousness of the injury or whether it will require a DL stint. I do somewhat like the opportunity of seeing Casilla get showcased a little bit more though. Losing Castillo in the leadoff spot could be a tough blow though.
• Joe Mauer celebrated his 24th birthday with a 1 for 2 night at the plate with 2 walks.
• Jason Bartlett has five errors on the season.
• Santana improved to 3-1 on the season. He allowed just 4 hits and a walk in the game.

Coming up

The Twins currently boast the best record (10-5) in the American league. I was pretty surprised to see that considering it doesn’t feel like they’re playing their best ball. The success has been largely due to better than expected performances from Carlos Silva and Ramon Ortiz. The Twins will hope to improve upon that record when they open up a series in Kansas City on Friday night.

AL Central Standing

4/19/2007	W	L	GB
Twins	10	5	-
Tigers	9	6	1.0
Indians	6	6	2.5
White Sox	7	7	2.5
Royals	4	11	6