Twins 6, Indians 1

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Cleveland that seemed perfect for baseball, Scott Baker (W 5-8, 6.33 ERA) pitched six strong innings for the Twins. He allowed only 1 run on 5 hits, walked two batters and struck out three, two days before his 25th birthday.

I think I speak for all Twins fans when I express how excited/relieved I was to see Baker have such a dominant outing. What the Twins really need to stay in playoff contention is for all their starters to get down to business. Fans were beginning to wonder when Baker would be ready to pitch at the Major League level, and I think he proved today that he'll be able to help the club during the final two-week stretch.

Scott had been sent down to AAA Rochester on two separate occasions this year due to major inconsistency in his pitching. Since his early September recall, he has won two of three starts.

After right fielder Casey Blake singled in a run in the first, the Twins were given an opportunity to tie it up in the second, thanks to poor Cleveland defense. With two gone, Torii Hunter (1 for 5, 2 RBIs) hit a grounder to short for what should have been an easy play. First baseman Ryan Garko dropped the low toss by Jhonny Peralta though, putting an error on the board and allowing the inning to continue. Phil Nevin's infield hit (2 for 3, 2 RBIs) was then followed by a Jason Tyner (3 for 3, RBI) single to left.

Paul Byrd (L 9-8, 4.88 ERA) pitched four innings, allowing 5 runs with 4 earned on 8 hits, walking four batters and striking out three. The trouble for him came in the third with one down after Nick Punto (1 for 4, RBI) was aboard with a walk. Joe Mauer (2 for 5) bunted for a hit before Michael Cuddyer grounded out to the mound. Justin Morneau was then intentionally walked to get to who? Torii Hunter. He promptly lined a single to left, scoring two runs and advancing to second (Morneau to third) on Franklin Gutierrez's crazy attempt to end the madness at homeplate. Philly then batted in two more runs on a single that third baseman Andy Marte couldn't handle. Punto also added a sacrifice fly for good measure in the eighth.

The Twins had another outstanding defensive outing Sunday, turning five doubles plays: four behind Baker and another for Matt Guerrier (3.13 ERA), who pitched the final three innings of the game, allowing only two hits without a run. Congratulations to Matt on his first career save.

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After a well deserved and much-needed day off Monday, the Twins head to Boston for a three game series with the Red Sox. Matt Garza (1-5, 5.50 ERA) will kick off the series against Tim Wakefield (7-9, 4.19 ERA) on Tuesday night, Boof Bonser (5-5, 4.52 ERA) is set to battle Curt Schilling (14-7, 4.13 ERA) on Wednesday and Johan Santana (18-5, 2.77 ERA) will take the hill for the series finale versus Josh Beckett (15-10, 5.02 ERA) on Thursday.

With both Chicago losing 5-4 to Oakland and Detroit falling 12-8 to Baltimore in a 10-inning battle on Sunday, Minnesota leaps to four games ahead of the White Sox in the Wild Card Standings and just one game behind the Tigers for the Central Division lead. There are 13 games remaining in the regular season.

Batting Title Watch: Derek Jeter sat for the first loss of a Yankees' doubleheader on Sunday against Boston, but went 0 for 4 in the second loss, lowering his average to .341 and breaking his 25 game hitting streak. Joe Mauer went 2 for 5, still batting .344 on the season and still leading the majors in hitting.