It was the Johan Santana Show Thursday afternoon at the Metrodome in the Twins' 3-1 win over the Royals, saving the team from a series sweep. Santana (16-5, 2.95 ERA) pitched his tail off for seven exciting innings, striking out 11 Royals, walking one and allowing only a run on 5 hits -a home run in the sixth by Esteban German (2) - on 109 total pitches. He earned his 16th win on the year.
Joel Peralta (4.16 ERA) replaced Jorge De La Rosa (3-4, 7.74 ERA) in the sixth, who pitched decent up until that point. He allowed only 2 runs on 6 hits - one being a homer by Rondell White in the second (4) - struck out 3 batters, but walked three, also. After a lead off single by Mike Redmond (3 for 4, .343 AVG) and back-to-back walks (Cuddyer and Morneau) his outing was through.
The first batter Peralta faced was Torii Hunter with the bags full. He grounded into a DP, but scored Mike from third before the inning ended. The Twins added an insurance run in the eighth with Jason Bartlett making a huge play by stealing third, then taking home on a throwing error by John Buck.
Minnesota relief held the lead from there. Pat Neshek (1.05 ERA) came in to take care of business in the eighth, striking out two batters and Automatic Joe (1.77 ERA) polished off the ninth with a K and straight zeros.
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Next, the Twins will head to New York to play a series (on National TV, even) with Carlos Silva (8-12, 6.50 ERA) back on the mound against Cory Lidle (10-9, 4.64 ERA) and the Yankees. The Yankees hold an eight game lead in their division as of Thursday afternoon, after their 6-4 win over Detroit.
2 comments:
Didn't get to see any of the game, but Johan with 11 K's and a win is always great. Didn't realize we are still so close to Detroit and only half a game back from Chicago. We have to step it up though..tough times ahead.
VERY tough times ahead, considering our starting pitching woes. I have an optimistic outlook, though.
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