Game #13 - Two in a Row!

Now this is more like it......

The Twins improved to 6-7 with a nice win over Los Angeles 9-2. After surrendering Torii Hunter's 2-run home run in the 2nd inning, the Twins and starter Kevin Slowey settled down, and scored all nine runs in three consecutive innings.

The hitting star tonight was (again) Jason Kubel. He followed-up his cycle performance on Friday night with 4 more hits on Saturday, including a 2-run double in the 5th inning to give the Twins the lead. Kubel is now hitting .366/.395/.634 on the young season with 12 RBI. Before Friday night's game, Kubel's stats were a paltry .226/.273/.355. It's nice that in April one can raise his average 140 points with an 8-10 performance over two games.

Elsewhere at the plate, Brendan Harris was 3-5 and scored 2 runs; Justin Morneau was 2-4 and also scored 2 runs, and Delmon Young was 2-3 with a WALK! and 3 RBI. Regarding Harris, it looks like Ron Gardenhire may be giving him a loot at 2B to replace the badly-slumping Alexi Casilla, as Harris has started at second on consecutive nights.

Slowey was fabulous in his 7 innings, allowing 6 hits, 2 runs, and striking out 5. He had given up 22 hits in his first two starts of the season, so his 6-hit performance Saturday was extremely encouraging. Craig Breslow struggled to throw strikes, but was scoreless in his 8th inning, and Juan Morillo debuted with the Twins and was good in the 9th, striking out one batter and hitting the upper-90s on FSNorth's (juiced) radar gun.

The Twins will send Glen Perkins to the hill Sunday against Brandon Loux in an effort to achieve the season's first sweep.

Around the AL Central (a perfect night for the division):

• Cleveland 22 , NY Yankees 4 - The Indians put together an amazing 14-run 2nd inning off Chien-Ming Wang and Anthony Claggett. The Tribe sent 17 men to the plate in the top of the 2nd, cranked out 13 hits, hit three homers (Grady Sizemore, Shin-Soo Choo, Asdrubal Cabrera), and the rout was on. Wang's line: 1.1 IP, 8 H, 8 ER; his ERA is now 34.50 for the season. The inning marked Tribe and Yankee franchise marks for most runs in an inning. Mark DeRosa had 4 hits and 6 RBI; Cabrera had 4 hits and 5 RBI.
• Kansas City 2, Texas 0 - Zack Greinke did it again. He moved to 3-0 with a complete game shutout, giving up 7 hits, walking none, and striking out 10. He had not given up a run this season, and his scoreless streak stretching back to 2008 is now at 34 innings. MIguel Olivo homered for KC, which is now 7-4.
• Chicago White Sox 8, Tampa Bay 3 - Mark Buehrle moved to 2-0 on the season, and the White Sox used homers by Carlos Quentin (#6) and Paul Konerko to beat the Rays. Rays' pitching gave up 10 walks to the Whities, who got to Scott Kazmir for 6 runs in 4 innings. Quentin and Konerko each had 3 hits in the game.
• Detroit 2, Seattle 0 - Edwin Jackson went the first 7.2 innings, and Bobby Seay and Fernando Rodney finished up the shutout of the Mariners. Jackson allowed just 5 hits in his outing and struck out 6 batters. Magglio Ordonez, Gerald Laird, and Brandon Inge each had 2 hits for Detroit.

Around the Minors:

• AAA - Scranton/Wilkes Barre 6, Rochester 2 - The Yanks remained undefeated and the Red Wings dropped the second game of the series. Brian Duensing started and was roughed-up for 5 hits and 4 runs in 3 innings. The Red Wings managed just 5 hits: 4 singles and Matt Tolbert's homer. The loss dropped Rochester to .500 at 5-5.
• AA - New Hampshire 7, New Britain 2 - The owners of one of the Eastern League's best record took it to the Rock Cats, dropping the Cats to 2-8. Danny Valencia was 3-3 in the game and Yancarlos Ortiz had both RBI.
• High A - St. Lucie 8, Ft. Myers 1 - The Miracle was blown out by St. Lucie, managing just 4 hits in the process. Joe Benson had two of them, including a HR. Ben Revere and Jair Fernandez had the others. Mike McCardell dropped to 0-2 for Ft. Myers, going 4 innings and allowing 6 hits and 6 runs.
• Low A - Beloit 7, Burlington 5 - The Snappers started out quickly, scoring 4 in the bottom of the 1st inning in route to their victory. Nick Romero homered, and Dominic De La Osa and Eli Tintor each had 3 hits.

Misc.:

• This began a few weeks ago, is expected to take a year, and - I believe - it's downright wrong.
• In the "new" Yankee Stadium, my buddy Fry passed along some great shots of the park's dress rehearsal. It looks spectacular! I hope to be there catching the Twins next month.
• In the NHL Playoffs, the NY Rangers took a 2-0 lead over Washington in their series; as did Detroit over Columbus; as did Boston over Montreal; as did Chicago over Calgary.
• For today's musical selection, in honor of Sunday morning, please enjoy Daniel Boone's cheesefest.