The Twins continue to roll right along as they took Friday night’s series opener against the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs sent out unproven starter Carlos Marmol who didn’t have good command of his pitches. He fell behind in the count often and the Twins took advantage of it by scoring 7 runs in Marmol’s 5 2/3 innings. Michael Cuddyer and Justin Morneau provided plenty of run production from the middle of the lineup and Johan Santana was his usual self—limiting Chicago to just 1 earned run in 8 innings.

Chicago scored first when Phil Nevin hit a solo homer in the second inning. The homerun was one of only 2 hits that Santana gave up in 7 innings. He gave up 3 hits in the eighth and 1 run scored on a Bartlett throwing error, but by that point the Twins had a comfortable lead. Santana struck out just 6, but he walked just 1 and gave up only 5 hits. He lowered his AL best ERA to 2.75.

The Twins didn’t stay behind for long in the game. Justin Morneau hit a second inning homerun with Cuddyer at first. In the third inning Michael Cuddyer doubled to score Nick Punto and Joe Mauer and also advanced to third on the throw home. Morneau drove in Cuddyer for the third run of the inning with a single to left. Luis Castillo added runs in the 6th inning with a 2-run single with 2 outs in the inning.

Game Notes

• Justin Morneau picked up 3 hits for the second straight night. He also hit his 19th homer and 59th, 60th and 61st RBI. He’s on pace for 43 homers and 137 RBI. His June OPS is a remarkable 1.194.
• Jason Bartlett extended his hit-streak to 9 games with his 3rd double of the season. He also walked twice. In his 9 games since being called up he has an OBP of .500, not bad for a #9 hitter.
• Santana improved to 8-4 on the season. He hasn’t allowed more than 1 ER in his last 5 starts.

Saturday

Mark Prior was supposed to face off against Santana, but in a showing of weakness the Cubs decided to shuffle their rotation. Prior will pitch Saturday night against Boof Bonser who might be pitching for an extension in the rotation. This game is likely the Cubs’ best bet for a win in this series. Fortunately our starters have gone 8 innings the past two games, so our bullpen is rested enough to keep Bonser on a short leash.