Twins 5, White Sox 4

Who's the man. Or...men, I should say. The Twins found themselves gaining their 40th come-from-behind win of the year Friday night after a short outing from Brad Radke (12-9, 4.46 ERA) and his broken shoulder. Radke pitched the first two innings through enormous amount of pain, and just couldn't find the strike zone. He allowed 3 runs off 4 hits, one being a 2-out, 2-run shot by Paul Konerko (28) in the first.

This is when the best bullpen in baseball stepped in. They combined to go 7 innings, allowing 7 hits and 1 run - Pat Neshek (1.17 ERA) gave up a solo shot by A.J. Pierzynski that would tie the game in the sixth. It was a playoff atmosphere, no doubt, and there are two games left that should prove to be just as exciting. Both Ron Gardenhire and Ozzie Guillen were managing their bullpen like it was for the Division Title!

Javier Vazquez (11-8, 5.06 ERA) was looking good up until the Twins found ways to put runs on the board in the sixth. He gave up 2 earned runs on 5 hits in all, striking out only one batter. Nick Punto! delivered his first home run of the season to start the four-run inning.


Torii Hunter then belted a three-run shot (20), his fifth in seven games, with two outs in the sixth to give the Twins a one-run lead. And then Jason Bartlett (that little piranha) drove in the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth on a single up the middle, right after some heckler said something dumb like, "Hey Bartlett! Hey Jason Bartlett! I'm thinkin' fastball, whatdya got?" Smash! Right up the middle. Sucka. Joe Nathan (1.50 ERA) came in and recorded his 27th save of the year, in a shaky but exciting bottom of the ninth.

VS.

Friday's game put the Twins in the Wild Card lead, and just 5 games back from the Detroit Tigers. They will look to take another game from the White Sox Saturday night at US Cellular Field, putting Johan K. Santana (15-5, 3.03 ERA) on the hill against Jose Contreras (11-8, 4.04 ERA) and the rest. This should be a hell of a pitching matchup! Let's hope the Twins bats can stay hot, maybe even get another 10+ hit game.