Twins Top Tigers (G,B,U Recap)

The Good: The Twins extended their winning streak to 4 games with a 6-4 win over the Tigers in Detroit. This is only the 2^nd time this season the Twins have won 4 straight games. Liam Hendriks took the mound for the Twins and look sharp for the first 4 innings. Hendriks still wasn’t at his best, he struggled with control early and was allowing the Tigers to reach base – but he managed his situations and kept the Tigers to 1 run on 3 hits through the first 4 innings. Given the state of the rotation and Hendriks last few starts, a strong start to the ballgame is a great sign.

The Twins offense also deserves a mention as they got after Doug Fister early and often. Ryan Doumit was the star of the show, reaching base in all five of his plate appearances. Ben Revere was 2 for 4 and accounted for 2 of the Twins 6 runs. Joe Mauer, Brian Dozier and Trevor Plouffe also had nice nights at the plate, helping the Twins push across runs early and often.

After going stagnant during the end of interleague play and against the White Sox, the Twins offense has now, once again, become red hot. They’ve scored 28 runs in their past 4 games.

The Bad: Liam Hendriks 5^th inning was bad, very bad. Hendriks started the inning by battling Austin Jackson in an elongated at bat, working the count full before giving up a single to left field.

Hendriks seemed to unravel after this at bat – much like Bruce Chen did with the Royals on Sunday after Jamey Carroll fought off 11 pitches to earn a walk. Henriks quickly walked Quintin Berry before giving up a double to Miguel Cabrera. Prince Fielder was walked after that and Hendriks’ night was over.

After starting strong, Hendriks 5^th inning line was 0 outs, 2 hits, 2 walks and 2 earned runs. Anthony Swarzak gave up one more of Henriks’ runners, bumping his total to 3 earned runs in the 5^th. 4.0 innings of solid work were nearly unraveled by one very bad inning. I’m not sure why Hendriks seems to give up innings like this with each start. It can likely be chalked up to inexperience and youth – and as Hendriks develops he may learn what is going wrong in these situations to prevent them from happening again. For this season, however, fans have to hold their breath with each inning Hendriks pitches – hoping that this isn’t the inning he implodes.

The Ugly: Doug Fister’s final line: 4.0 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO  The Twins got to Fister early and made him pay for leaving the ball over the plate. The Twins seem to have Fister’s number as they are one of the few teams that knock him around the diamond almost on command. Fister’s 1-6 record doesn’t reflect this, but he has been one of the better pitchers for the Tigers this season – for whatever reason, that success does not translate when he pitches against Minnesota.

In this case, last night’s “ugly” was very good for the Twins.

Looking Forward:

Nick Blackburn (4-5 7.45 ERA) takes the mound tonight for the Twins against Duane Below (2-1, 2.70 ERA) in his first start of the season. Below has performed well for the Tigers this year out of the bullpen, but hopefully the Twins will be able to get to him as he fatigues in the middle innings.

Injury News:

Matt Capps’ rehab effort seems to be progressing nicely. The Twins have indicated that Capps will likely make a few rehab appearances in Fort Meyers during the All-Star break and could rejoin the team as early as July 13^th. Here’s hoping Capps comes back healthy and ready to throw – the Twins need him to be 100% by the end of July as his value for the team is in the potential prospects he’ll bring in a trade.

Accolades:

Congratulations to Twins Manager Ron Gardenhire on career win 900 last night.