Justin Morneau had four hits, including a homer and the tying single in the seventh inning, and the Minnesota Twins came back to beat the Detroit Tigers 4-3 on Saturday. Magglio Ordonez's three-run homer in the seventh spoiled an otherwise stellar start by Francisco Liriano, but Morneau capped the rally with his hit in the bottom of the inning.
Placido Polanco might have been the grittiest player on a night where several were in contention after 16 innings. The Detroit Tigers second basemen fouled a ball off his protective cup in the 14th inning, only to follow it up on the next pitch with an RBI single. He hit another run-scoring single in the 16th inning that put his team up for good in an 11-9 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Friday...
Joe Mauer has enough hits to lead the major leagues in batting average. Soon, he'll have enough plate appearances. Mauer went 3-for-3 Wednesday in the Minnesota Twins' 5-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals, raising his average to .392. He's eight plate appearances short of the 3.1 per game needed to qualify for the batting race.
One pitch after another, the Royals fouled back seemingly everything Scott Baker threw. Good pitches, bad pitches, pitches he was trying to let them hit: Foul! When it mattered most, Baker got the outs and the win. Justin Morneau homered for the third straight game and Baker labored through five tough innings, lifting the Minnesota Twins to a 2-1 victory over hapless Kansas City on Tuesday night.
Miguel Olivo didn't think Luke Hochevar struggled. He didn't believe the Royals missed some early chances against Nick Blackburn. That triple he hit in the seventh inning? Single all the way. Either Olivo was being a contrarian or wasn't watching the same game as everyone else. Whatever it is, the guy sure did some damage to the Minnesota Twins.
Francisco Liriano pitched so well, his unsightly stats coming into the game must have been a typing mistake. The Minnesota left-hander worked seven strong innings backed by Justin Morneau's three-run, first-inning home run in the Twins' 6-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday. Liriano entered 3-8 with a 5.88 ERA but won his second straight starts during a turnaround June, and this...
The Minnesota Twins successfully challenged Albert Pujols the night before. Then they tried it again. Pujols made them pay by lining two-run homers in his first two at-bats Sunday, doing most of the damage against Kevin Slowey in a 5-3 victory on Saturday. His crucial ninth-inning strikeout against Joe Nathan in a two-run loss the previous night was on his mind.