Twins win 5th straight, Verlander stops the streak

The Twins extended their winning streak to 5 with an 8-6 victory over the Tigers on Tuesday night, but ran into Justin Verlander on Wednesday night and dropped 5-1 decision, ending their streak. We’ll look into both games in some quick recaps below.

Tuesday: Twins 8 – Tigers 6

WP: Gray  LP: Villarreal

Duane Below made his starting debut for the Tigers on Tuesday night and the Twins’ offense made sure it was going to be a rough one. Below lasted only 2.2 innings yet still managed to yield 5 hits and 5 runs, although only 1 of those runs was actually earned.

In fact, the Tigers’ defense may have been the best player on the Twins offense, committing two key errors that allowed innings to continue. The most painful error occurred in the 3^rd inning off of a Joe Mauer ground ball. Ramon Santiago misplayed the ball, allowing Mauer to reach on what should have been an easy – inning ending – out.

Josh Willingham, who is in a private home run contest with Trevor Plouffe, took advantage of the situation by blasting a 2 run home run (his 18^th – tying Plouffe) and giving the Twins a 4-3 lead.

After a Justin Morneau single, Below was pulled for Jose Ortega. Trevor Plouffe, not to be outdone by Willingham’s homer, decided he needed to hit a 2 run shot as well. Plouffe’s 19^th home run this season put the Twins up 6-3 and they looked to be in control of the game.

Unfortunately, Nick Blackburn was on the mound for the Twins and he was less than effective (once again). The Tigers homered twice off of Blackburn in the 4^th to tie the game at 6. Thankfully, the Twins bullpen took things over in the 5^th inning and managed to hold the Tigers scoreless the rest of the way. Jeff Gray, Kyle Waldrop, Tyler Robinson and Glen Perkins combined to close out the game without allowing another run.

The Twins offense meanwhile pushed across 1 run in the 7^th on a Ryan Doumit sac-fly (following a double by Mauer and Willingham) and Joe Mauer added an insurance run in the 9^th with a solo shot to left field to make the score 8-6. Perkins shut the door in the 9^th, pushing the Twins to win #5 in a row.

Wednesday: Tigers 5 – Twins 1

WP: Verlander  LP:  Duensing

Brian Duensing had his best start of the year on Wednesday night, holding the Tigers to 4 hits and 2 runs in 4.1 innings of work. Duensing was pulled from the game in the 5^th due to injury after a Alex Avila ground ball struck Duensing in the leg. Duensing looks to be okay, suffering what the team is simply calling a bruise. After seeing Andy Pettite fracture his fibula earlier this season, many Twins fans expected the worst when Duensing hit the ground in pain. Thankfully it looks like Duensing will be okay for his next start.

Kyle Waldrop entered in relief of Duensing and pitched a solid 1.2 innings allowing only 3 hits and one run to score. Cole De Vries relieved Waldrop and finished off the games’ last 2 innings by allowing 3 hits and 2 more runs to score.

The Twins’ offense was stymied by Justin Verlander, who threw his 5^th complete game of the year and picked up his 9^th win. Outside of a Chris Parmelee blast in the 5^th inning (he crushed the ball to right field), the Twins offense simply couldn’t get anything going.

Movers and Shakers:

Following another disastrous start, the Twins decided that Nick Blackburn needed some time in the minors, demoting him on Wednesday while calling up Casey Fien.

Blackburn has been largely ineffective this season, posting an 8.10 ERA and a 4-5 record in 13 starts. Clearly something is wrong with Blackburn’s mechanics or delivery as he has struggled greatly since June of 2011. During that 13 month span, Blackburn has an ERA of 7.61. In his first 15 starts of 2011, Blackburn’s ERA was a respectable 3.15 – a clear indicator that something has changed with the veteran right hander.

The Twin hope that by spending some time in AAA, Blackburn will be able to find and fix whatever that change is; even with as devastated as this starting pitching staff has been, there’s still no room for players to perform as poorly as Blackburn has been this season.

Casey Fien, meanwhile, comes up to Minnesota after posting a 4.30 ERA with 42 strikeouts and 14 walks in 46 innings of work with Rochester. This isn’t Fien’s first big league appearance; he worked 14 innings for the Tigers between 2009 and 2010. During that span, Fien posted an ERA of 8.36, proving him to be something of an AAAA pitcher. He has been throwing well in the minors lately, and with the state of the Twins’ starting rotation, that simple fact is enough to get you a shot at the big leagues.

Looking Forward:

The Twins close out the series in Detorit tonight with Scott Diamond (7-3 2.63 ERA) taking the mound against Rick Porcello (6-5 4.35 ERA). Following that, the Twins travel to Texas for 3 games with the Rangers before the All-Star break.