After the first inning of Saturday afternoon’s game in Detroit, things couldn’t have gone much smoother. After a good game Friday night, it looked like the Twins had reverted to their old ways. Jason Tyner and Nick Punto singled to start off the game only to have Punto get picked off at first and then have the inning ended on ground outs from Joe Mauer and Michael Cuddyer. In the Bottom of the inning, Carlos Silva allowed two singles, a double and a triple, but escaped with only 2 runs allowed.

In three starts in 2006, Justin Verlander never allowed more than 1 run to the Twins. That dominance was all wiped out in the second inning on Saturday when Verlander allowed 4 runs on 4 hits. In the top of the third, Justin Morneau followed up from his double in the second with a solo home run, his sixth of the season and second in as many games. The third inning would be the last for Verlander, but the scoring continued for the Twins.

Things got a bit crazy in the fifth inning when Torii Hunter hit a ground ball that got Cuddyer in a run-down between third and home. Cuddyer was tagged out, but was given home plate after obstruction was called on Detroit pitcher Wil Ledezma. Replays showed that no contact was made between Cuddyer and Ledezma, but from the home plate umpire’s perspective it probably didn’t look that way as Ledezma was in the base path. Arguments continued, especially after Jason Kubel followed up with a 2-run single. Ledezma was thrown out of the game and then it was Jim Leyland’s turn to for the same. He was tossed and continued to argue until Ledezma’s substitute, Auilino Lopez was warmed up to pitch. The Twins ended up scoring 3 runs in the inning to push their lead to 8-3

The Twins offense added 3 more runs in the eighth and ninth inning to ultimately win the blowout game by a score of 11-3.

Full Box	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Twins	0	4	1	0	3	0	0	2	1	11	17	0
Tigers	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	11	2

Game Notes

• After ending his slump with a home run on Friday night, Justin Morneau went 3-4 with a single, double and home run on Saturday.
• Jason Kubel drove in 3 runs on 2 singles.
• Joe Mauer hit his first home run of the year to add the eleventh run in the ninth inning. He had 3 hits and an intentional walk in the game and pushed his batting average up to .388.
• Carlos Silva allowed 10 hits, but walked just 1 and was able to work out of most jams. He was credited with his second win of the year.
• Every Twin in the lineup had at least one hit with six players having a multi hit game.

Johan Santana will try to help the Twins to a sweep over Mike Maroth on Sunday afternoon. Baltimore ended Cleveland’s 6-game winning streak on Sunday and helped the Twins move to within 1/2 game of the division lead.