Live commentary was provided for this game.

Pregame

The Twins will look to Johan Santana to get them back on track and avoid the sweep. The weather in Cleveland is a few degrees warmer than yesterday, but it’s still going to be pretty chilly and tough on the bats.

The Lineups

Twins (Johan Santana [0-1])

1. Stewart, LF
2. Castillo, 2B
3. Mauer, C
4. White, DH
5. Hunter, CF
6. Morneau, 1B
7. Batista, 3B
8. Kubel, RF
9. Castro, SS

Indians (Jake Westbrook [1-0])

1. Sizemore, CF
2. Michaels, LF
3. Peralta, SS
4. Hafner, DH
5. Martinez, C
6. Perez, 1B
7. Boone, 3B
8. Vasquez, 2B
9. Blake, RF

Key to the Game: Santana’s ability to shut down Travis Hafner, who has been unstoppable thus far agains the Twins. Also the Twins will need to take advantage of scoring opportunities by successfully moving runners over. The cold weather should help Santana get back on track.

The Game

Top 1st

Quick inning. Mauer reached on a gift infield hit, but Stewart, Castillo, and White all grounded out.

Bottom 1st

A good leadoff at bat by Sizemore; He made Santana throw 7 pitches before hitting a double. Santana then came back with two big strikeouts against Michaels and Peralta. He walked Hafner and Martinez to load the bases and finally got the 3rd out on a Perez groundout. The Twins escaped with no runs allowed, but Santana threw 36 pitches in the inning; at that pace he won’t make it out of the 4th inning. I’m getting a bad feeling about this game already.

Bottom 2nd

Much better inning for Santana. 1-2-3 inning with 2 strikeouts; he’s already surpassed his strikeout total in the opener with 4. Santana got out of the inning with just 10 pitches thrown.

Top 3rd

Juan Castro hit a single and Luis Castillo walked, but the Twins couldn’t drive them in. At least they made Westbrook work a little that inning.

Bottom 3rd

Santana has settled in with another quick inning (this time against the top of the Cleveland lineup) and his fifth K of the game.

Bottom 4th

Santana ended Hafner’s streak of reaching base safely 11 straight times. The ball was hit hard to Torii Hunter. Eduardo Perez hit a solo homer to left to put the Indians in the lead 1-0. Santana walked Boone for his 3rd walk of the day. Santana’s pitch count is becoming an issue (78 through 4 innings); the fifth may be his last inning of the game. Unfortunately Liriano was used up in yesterday’s game, and the rest of our bullpen has been iffy so far this year.

Top 6th

The Twins offense has been held scoreless for 16 consecutive innings. They have just two hits through 6 innings today.

Bottom 6th

After a single by Peralta and a double by Martinez, Santana was pulled from the game in favor of Juan Rincon. Santana threw 100 pitches while getting through just 5 1/3 innings. The Twins intentionally walked the pinch hitter, Ben Broussard, to load the bases for Aaron Boone. Boone doubled to drive in 2 runs (both runs charged to Santana).

Top 8th

The Twins got their first baserunner since the 3rd inning with a walk by Kubel. Guillermo Mota relieved Westbrook. Kubel stole 2nd base. A basehit by Stewart gave the Twins their first run in 17+ innings of baseball.

Bottom 8th

Jesse Crain struck out the side in relief of Juan Rincon.

Top 9th

Rondell White reached on a HBP, and with 2 outs Morneau singled to drive him in. Batista flew out to end the game.

Game Recap

The bats were dead again today, and again Santana struggled. This Twins will hope to turn around their dismall start to the season when they head to Minneapolis to start a 9-game homestand on Tuesday. The pitching was good enough in this game to win, but the Twins just couldn’t get the bats going. For now, I’ll blame the weak offense on the cold weather in Cleveland, but the offense will need to prove itself in the warmth of the dome this week.

It was nice to see the offense try to mount a late inning comeback, something they have been pretty good at so far this season. Unfortunately, it was too little too late.