Twins 7, Indians 2

The Twins evened up this homestand's record at 3-3 Wednesday night against Cliff Lee (10-8, 4.61 ERA) and the Cleveland Indians. Carlos Silva (6-4, 6.30 ERA) pitched 5 good innings, and was forced off the mound by a 93-pitch count, after giving up two earned runs on five hits, one walk and four Ks. Lee had a similar evening, tossing 104 pitches on his early exit, giving up two runs on eight hits, walking one and striking out four.

And the Twins licked their chops at the Cleveland bullpen.

Luis Rodriguez, filling in for the resting Nick Punto, came out and had a huge offensive night, going 3 for 3 with a walk and an RBI. Cool enough to be called L Rod. At the very bottom of the lineup, Jason Bartlett (who is hitting .369 this season in 187 at bats) also had a giant game, going 4 for 4 with a run scored. Joe Mauer also batted in a couple runs, having a 1 for 4 evening.

Maybe the biggest moment in the game came when Fausto Carmona and Rafael Betancourt slowly unraveled on the mound after loading up the bags by a Jason Kubel lead off single, a walk, another single by Bartlett, and an infield RBI single by Luis Castillo. After Lew Ford grounded into a forceout at home leaving the bases loaded, Mauer popped up a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Bartlett. Then, on one pitch, Michael Cuddyer lined one just over the center field wall to make it a 5-run game (insert fist-pump here).

Pat Neshek (2-0, 0.90 ERA) came in with two runners aboard, struck out one batter, and got the win. We just love Neesh around here.

P.S. Anyone notice whether or not Jason Michaels went out on just 2 strikes in the eighth inning? I never saw or heard Old Blue give any recognition of a first pitch strike, and then he just kinda walked away after the swinging-strike two. Mauer stood up and looked at him like, "Where are you goin?" Weird. Oh well, your loss dude. Pay attention next time.

VS.

Matt Garza (0-1, 23.62 ERA) and the Twins will look for a series sweep Thursday afternoon in an early 11:30am game against Paul Byrd (7-6, 4.72 ERA) and the Indians. This will be Garza's second Major League start, and lord knows he needs to prove he can bark with the big dogs.