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The Leading Logic In Sports Handicapping |
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DETROIT (Ticker) -- A crucial error helped keep the Minnesota
Twins' hopes alive and Justin Morneau took advantage.
Morneau hit the go-ahead solo homer in the top of the 11th
inning as the Minnesota Twins rallied for a 7-6 victory over the
Detroit Tigers on Thursday.
The blast capped a five-hit day for Morneau, who lined Freddy
Dolsi 's offering just over the wall in right field with one
out.
"I was looking for something to drive and just got enough of
it," Morneau said. "It was a good feeling rounding the bases."
The Twins trailed, 6-4, in the bottom of the ninth but Nick
Punto started the inning with a single to left-center off Tigers
closer Todd Jones. Rookie Denard Span followed with a base hit
to right and ended up on third Detroit's Matt Joyce overran and
had to chase the ball all the way to the wall. Punto scored on
the play and Span came home on pinch hitter Joe Mauer's
sacrifice fly, tying it at 6-6.
"I saw (Punto) rounding second and I kind of thought about
throwing to third and I just got it in between hops," Joyce
said. I came up on it and it obviously rolled to the wall."
"We're all in this together," Jones said. "(Joyce) wasn't out
there intentionally trying to kick the ball around. If I make a
couple better pitches, maybe I can get him out of it. You just
gotta keep moving, keep going forward, get ready for tomorrow."
Minnesota escaped a big jam in the bottom half of the ninth when
closer Joe Nathan struck out both rookie Jeff Larish and Ivan
Rodriguez with the bases loaded to send the game into extra
innings.
"We had our shot," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "I've seen
these games 100 times in my career where you've got your shot.
A lot of times when you don't do it, it comes back to haunt you.
We had our shot there, we had the bases loaded. Couldn't put it
in play. "
Dolsi (1-3) gave up one run and two hits over 2 1/3 innings.
Matt Guerrier (5-4) pitched two scoreless innings to earn the
win for Minnesota, which snapped a three-game losing streak.
"It was a good win for us after three tough losses in Boston,"
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "The bullpen redeemed
themselves by made good pitches when they needed to. Even after
we fell behind, we were still taking good swings. The guys were
in the game all day."
Trailing, 2-1, in the bottom of the fourth, Detroit got five
hits in a row off Minnesota starter Kevin Slowey to take a 6-2
lead.
Joyce blasted a one-out, solo home run to center to tie the
score, and Larish singled in Marcus Thames, who had reached
second on a single with an error. After a base hit by
Rodriguez, Ramon Santiago hit a two-run double to left-center,
giving the Tigers a 5-2 lead.
Placido Polanco capped the outburst, two batters later, plating
Santiago with a single to center.
The Twins chipped away with single runs in the seventh and
eighth inning, cutting the deficit to 6-4 on Delmon Young's RBI
groundout in the eighth.
"It was a big win for us," Morneau said. "We were down a couple
in the ninth, they made a mistake and we took advantage of it."
Tigers starter Kenny Rogers gave up three runs and nine hits
over seven innings, striking out one and walking two.
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