Jarrod Washburn Topic Page

On Friday night Francisco Liriano bounced back with a pretty good start against Seattle. He held them to 1 run through 6 innings. He still threw a lot of pitches and walked 4 batters, but he managed to avoid the disastrous innings that had plagued him recently.

The game headed into extra innings and after the Mariners accurately predicted Ron Gardenhire's squeeze attempt and pitched out trapping Joe Mauer between 3rd and home, Matt Tolbert managed to hit a fly ball to deep left field. The ball was misplayed by Wladimir Balentien for an error and it allowed the Twins to win 2-1.

For the second straight night, the Twins bullpen can be given a lot of credit for the win. Kevin Slowey got a bit roughed up, allowing 5 runs through six innings. He allowed 9 hits, 2 of which were homeruns, but walked none. The bullpen has been good the past couple nights, but Twins starters can't keep forcing them to pitch 3 or 4 innings a night. Last night Craig Breslow, Jesse Crain and Joe Nathan combined to allow just 1 hit and 1 walk in 3 innings.

Justin Morneau busted out of his 2 game funk and drove in 3 RBI. He homered in the first inning to drive in two, and later doubled to tie the game in the fifth. Jason Kubel drove him in for the game winning run the next at-bat.

Carlos Silva is close to signing with the Seattle Mariners, reports Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com. The deal would be worth $44 million for 4 years. That's a lot of money for a league-average pitcher, but it doesn't come as much of a surprise.