Yesterday, the Twins lost a close game because too many scoring opportunities slipped by, and while they held the BJ's to 5 runs, the Twins came up just short. There were too many rallies where one more break could have locked up a win, but this afternoon the Twins didn't let those opportunities dribble away. The BJ's took a commanding early lead by stringing together three hits on Silva before Frank Thomas hit the 500th home run of his career, scoring three and putting the BJ's up 4-0. Thomas has been such a Twin killer over the course of his career that when he came into a four game series with 499 home runs, it seemed unlikely he'd leave Minnesota without #500, and even for a former Black Sock, the crowd rose to applaud him becoming the 21st ever to hit 500 home runs. Silva gave up another run in the third, but then he and the bullpen closed the door, only allowing two more baserunners and nearly snagged both on double plays anyways.
On the other side of the ball, the Twins had another new and fascinating line-up, due to injuries and availability of players. Justin Morneau is back from recuperating his bruised lung, but not quite up to playing first base and Mike Redmond caught last night's game, so Cuddyer played first while Mauer caught Silva with Morneau at DH. Jason Tyner and Jason Bartlett led off, while Nick Punto played second in place of Castillo... kind of interesting, surprisingly effective. Tyner led off with an infield single, beating the throw from third base, and then Jason Bartlett came up, and got hit by A.J. Burnett. I immediately started wondering who was going to replace Bartlett, since I wasn't sure if we had any infielders left (forgetting Cirillo could come in at third, and Punto and Rodriguez would cover the middle infield), but after a long time on the ground surrounded by trainers, Bartlett shook it off and headed to first. I think pretty highly of Jason Bartlett, so I enjoyed seeing him come back and spend the rest of the game punishing Burnett. Cuddyer sent Tyner home with a single, but Mauer and Morneau both looked pretty rough, both striking out swinging on three pitches. Bartlett started sticking it to Burnett by leading off the third with a home run, and Torii Hunter added another solo homer to start the fourth, and bring the Twins within reach.
The turning point was the fifth, starting at the top of the order, with a pair of singles by Tyner and Bartlett. Continuing last night's pick-off fiasco, with runners at the corners Burnett seemed determined he was picking off Bartlett at first, which seemed stupid until you consider the BJ's infield all seem to have really horrible throwing arms. Last night they were irritatingly good fielders and kept snagging line drives (while today they got through and the Twins doubled their run production) but in two games they had six errors and two passed balls. Burnett was nowhere near picking off Bartlett, but then when Bartlett decided to give him a big fuck you and steal second, the late throw from the plate showed why Burnett was concerned about discouraging stolen bases. (In the sixth, Bartlett and Rodriguez each had a steal and Rodriguez advanced on a passed ball, with no throw from the catcher.) Mauer and Morneau continued to struggle, but critically both had productive outs, grounding out to the right side to send home Tyner and Bartlett and tie the game. Burnett walked Cuddyer to set up a 2-run homer by Torii Hunter, his second of the game, and the Twins took the lead. In the sixth, Luis Rodriguez reached first on an error by first baseman Matt Stairs, then stole second and took third on a passed ball, before Jason Tyner drove him in the culmination of the piranha mentality, using speed and tenacity to make their own luck.
Some questions were raised during the game (mainly by my dad) as to the Twins failure to sign Frank Thomas as a DH, when the Metrodome obviously agrees with him, although one explanation was offered when he got ejected for arguing a call then continuing to scream at the umpire from the dugout, meaning his historic home run comes in a game he lost and didn't finish. The girls behind me also raised questions as to the verse order of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm", which they wouldn't stop singing. And there's still some question as to whether Justin Morneau is healthy enough to be back in the line-up, but I was just happy to see him get an RBI and a walk so perennially bitter local sports radio couldn't resurrect his "Morneau-for-4" moniker.
W - Carlos Silva
L - A.J. Burnett
SV - Joe Nathan
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