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Three low scoring affairs ended in a series victory for the Twins against Central division rival Cleveland Indians. On Friday night the Twins were shut out while Francisco Liriano struggled again in his second start of the season. Liriano allowed "only" 3 runs through 5 complete innings, but it could've been worse. He gave up 4 hits, walked 5 and struck out just 3. Rick Anderson and Ron Gardenhire have raved about his last two bullpen sessions, but when he goes out and struggles to find his location for 5 innings, it's hard to fully believe what they see.

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.

The Twins have ridded themselves of one problem in Sidney Ponson, but there are still many more. Joe Mauer is still out for at least another week and despite Sunday's breakout performance, the offense has struggled to produce runs as the Twins have lost 4 straight series. To make matters worse they'll take on the 21-14 Indians who are 11-3 at their combined homes (They played a series in Milwaukee).

The Twins went into extra inning for the first time of the season on Monday night against Cleveland. Carlos Silva held Cleveland scoreless until the fifth, but he managed to rack up a high pitch count before that point. Early in the game Silva was pulling the same stunts as his past three starts--he was stranding base runners. Things finally caught up to him when Victor Martinez came to bat with 2 outs and 2 on in the fifth inning. He hit a no-doubter to give the Indians a 3-run lead. Silva completed five and allowed 7 hits and 2 walks. He did strike out 6.

The Twins will open up a short two game series against the Cleveland Indians on Monday night at the dome. The Twins will be fortunate enough to miss C.C. Sabathia by one day and they'll have Johan Santana going for them on Tuesday.

A month ago Jeremy Sowers wasn't even in the big leagues. Since being called up and making his debut start on June 25th he's also been less than spectacular. He came into Saturday night's game with an error of 5.56 and a 1-3 record. He was also just coming off a bad start against the Twins earlier in the week. He was a different pitcher on Saturday night. He allowed just 4 hits and a walk in the complete game shutout and he got plenty of run support.

With Johan Santana on the mound the Twins led the entire game, but the victory came at a cost. Shannon Stewart and Torii Hunter left the game with foot injuries leaving an already thin outfield in even worse shape. Nick Punto finished the game in center field. Stewart has already been placed on the DL.

Jason Tyner joined the Twins on Friday night from AAA Rochester after Lew Ford was placed on the DL with a strained oblique muscle. The 29 year old Tyner didn't waste any time in making a positive impact. On a night of stranded baserunners, Tyner provided two RBI singles—one of which was a walk-off hit in the 10th.

Live commentary was provided for this game.

The only things colder than the weather in Cleveland were the bats of the Twins. Jason Johnson, a mediocre pitcher, dominated the Twins for 7 innings. Johnson gave up 4 hits and one walk in the game.