Twins end skid with 1-run win Twins 3 at Indians 2 July 28th, 2007 at 11:30 pm
The Twins are 7-8 since the All-Star break and in their 7 wins they’ve outscored their opponent by an average of just 2 runs. In all wins they didn’t allow the opponent to score more than five runs, so it’s been pretty all pitching in those games.
They’ve also lost some games by narrow margins. There was the Detroit series in which each game was lost by a run. Overall they’ve lost their 8 games since the All-Star break by an average of 4.4 runs, which is pretty low considering the 7-0 and 13-1 losses to Toronto. A couple decent bats could’ve made all the difference. It’s not outrageous to think the Twins could’ve won 3 or 4 more games in the past 2 week stretch, which would have them sitting within reach of Detroit and Cleveland.
Saturday night’s 1-run victory can be credited to a great start by Johan Santana. It was the sixth inning before he gave up a hit and the seventh before Travis Hafner broke up the shutout and tied the game with a 2-run home run. Santana struck out 12 Indians as he through 114 pitches to complete 7 innings.
The most unlikely moment of the game was Jason Tyner’s first career home run. Tyner isn’t a newcomer to the majors. Although rarely an everyday player, he’s amassed over 1,200 at-bats since he debuted with the Mets in 2000. To put that into perspective, Barry Bonds has homered about once every 13 at-bats over his entire career. Even Joe Mauer, not known for many home runs, has averaged 1 for every 42 at-bats. Nick Punto averages 1 every 152 at-bats.
Game Notes
- Pat Neshek pitched a perfect eighth inning and got the win.
- Joe Nathan recorded his 21st save of the year in pitching a perfect ninth inning.
- The Twins had just 5 hits with Tyner picking up 2 of them.
The Twins will have a tough one on Sunday with Matt Garza facing off against C.C. Sabathia. Detroit is on a 3 game losing streak, so the Twins haven’t lost as much ground as they should’ve recently. They’re currently 8 games behind Detroit and 1/2 game behind the Indians.
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2 Comments
Kris wrote: July 29th, 2007 at 11:02 pm
He's the type of guy the Twins would pick up (considering the Nevin and Boone pickups of the past 2 seasons), but would he help the team? No.
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scooter wrote: July 29th, 2007 at 8:08 pm
The Twins Bullpen Catcher site is reporting the Twins are interested in Morgan Ensberg. Is this a good thing? Should they really be going after him? Maybe he's a new Phil Nevin.
http://twinsbullpen.blogspot.com/