TWINS

Valencia hits game-winner

Twins beat Tigers, stay 4 games up on Sox
MINNEAPOLIS — Danny Valencia’s one-out single in the 10th inning drove in Michael Cuddyer from second base and gave the Minnesota Twins a 2-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday night.

By By DAVE CAMPBELL , September 02, 2010

Twins fall to Mariners 2-1

SEATTLE — It’s telling of Ron Gardenhire’s competitiveness — and the insecurity of a pennant race — that Minnesota’s usually pleasant, joking manager was just about seething. And his team leads its division by 4½ games.

By The Associated Press , August 30, 2010

Rangers beat Twins again

Guerrero, Hamilton homer as Texas beats Minnesota for third game in a row
ARLINGTON, Texas — Vladimir Guerrero and Josh Hamilton homered in support of C.J. Wilson, who won his sixth consecutive decision for the Texas Rangers, in a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins in a matchup of division leaders Wednesday night.

By By STEPHEN HAWKINS , August 26, 2010

Twins nearly get no-hit

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Joe Mauer’s clean single to center field with one out in the ninth inning broke up the no-hit bid of four Texas Rangers pitchers. The Rangers beat the Minnesota Twins 4-0 on Monday night in the fifth no-hitter this season broken up in the ninth inning. Starter Rich Harden was activated from the disabled list earlier in the day and he went 6.2 innings before being lifted after throwing 111 pitches. Matt Harrison got the final out of the seventh. Darren O’Day pitched the eighth and All-Star closer Neftali Feliz got one in the ninth before Mauer singled. Texas prevailed in the matchup of division leaders but fell two outs shy of its first no-hitter since Kenny Rogers’ perfect game against California on July 28, 1994.

By The Associated Press , August 24, 2010

Mauer powers Twins by Sox

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Joe Mauer had four hits, two RBIs and his first regular season home run at Target Field, leading the Minnesota Twins past the Chicago White Sox 7-6 on Wednesday night to increase their season-high lead in the AL Central to five games. The Twins trailed 5-3 entering the bottom of the fifth inning against Gavin Floyd (8-10). Mauer’s opposite-field solo shot cut into the lead before a three-run sixth sealed it.

By By Dave Campbell , August 19, 2010

Opinion: What a terrible decision, Gardy

The summer of 2010 is being called “The Year of the Pitcher” in Major League Baseball. This season there has been three no-hitters and two perfect games and that’s not even mentioning Detroit pitcher Armando Galarraga’s near perfecto. Sunday, Kevin Slowey and the Minnesota Twins looked to get in on the pitching-friendly action.

By Luke Hagen , August 16, 2010

Slowey throws 7 no-hit innings in win

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Ron Gardenhire heard the boos from Twins fans Sunday afternoon. And the Minnesota manager acknowledged he was kind of booing himself at the same time. Even though Kevin Slowey just thrown seven innings of no-hit baseball against Oakland, Gardenhire went to his bullpen to finish the game. The bid for a combined no-hitter didn’t last long, either, when Jon Rauch gave up a double to the second batter he faced in what would end being a 4-2 Twins victory.

By The Associated Press , August 16, 2010

Pavano, Twins beat Athletics

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Carl Pavano pitched into the seventh inning for his 15th win, Danny Valencia had two hits and two RBIs and the Minnesota Twins held on to beat the Oakland Athletics 4-3 on Friday night. Pavano (15-7) allowed two runs and 10 hits over 6 1-3 innings and matched the Yankees C.C. Sabathia and the Rays David Price for the most wins in the American League.

By The Associated Press , August 14, 2010

Tommy John surgery has come a long way

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — On a pitcher-perfect June night in the Twin Cities, Francisco Liriano and Tim Hudson dueled for eight dazzling innings, making every hit look like pure accident and every run scored feel like a minor miracle.

By The Associated Press , August 14, 2010

Twins rally past Cleveland

CLEVELAND (AP) — Jim Thome hit a two-run shot for career homer No. 578 and the Minnesota Twins rallied to beat the Cleveland Indians 5-4 on Sunday. Thome’s drive against his former team during Minnesota’s five-run fifth inning against David Huff (2-11) helped the Twins take two of three in the series and earn their 12th win in 16 games. Minnesota also pulled within a half-game of the AL Central-leading White Sox heading into their key three-game series in Chicago starting Tuesday night. Brian Duensing (5-1) pitched a career-high 7 1-3 innings for the Twins, yielding three earned runs and nine hits.

August 09, 2010

Twins sign first-round pick Wimmers

CLEVELAND (AP) — Alex Wimmers is eager to get his pro career started with the Minnesota Twins. The Twins signed their first-round pick in this June’s draft, a right-hander from Ohio State, to a $1,332,000 bonus Friday night minutes before Minnesota took the field for the first game of a three-game series against the Cleveland Indians.

August 07, 2010

Twins lose in walk-off

CLEVELAND (AP) — Matt LaPorta homered leading off the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Cleveland Indians a 7-6 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Friday night. LaPorta connected for his sixth homer off Matt Guerrier (2-7) after the Twins had tied it in the top half on a two-run single by Alexei Casilla off closer Chris Perez (1-2). Casilla had a career-high four RBIs.

August 07, 2010

Kubel's single drives in winning run for Twins against Rays

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — This popup took a bad hop. Jason Kubel’s two-out pop clanked off a catwalk high above Tropicana Field and fell behind the pitcher’s mound for a go-ahead single in the ninth inning, a true dome run that sent the Minnesota Twins past the Tampa Bay Rays 8-6 Thursday. “I’ll take it,” Kubel said. “Get a run in, that’s all that matters. Anyway it works. I’m happy with that.” After the Rays scored six times in the eighth, capped by pinch-hitter Jason Bartlett’s grand slam that made it 6-all, the Twins rallied in most unusual fashion.

By The Associated Press , August 06, 2010

Young's single lifts Twins by Rays in 13th

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Delmon Young finally put an end to a game filled with strong pitching. Young had a tiebreaking RBI single in the 13th inning as the Minnesota Twins beat the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1 on Wednesday night. “An exciting baseball game,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “Well pitched by both sides. A lot of big at-bats and nothing to show for it, and that’s probably because of the pitching.” Alexi Casilla opened the 13th by drawing a walk from Lance Cormier (3-3) and advanced to third on Joe Mauer’s single. Young then made it 2-1 on a single to left.

By The Associated Press , August 05, 2010

Rays beat Twins to take over lead in AL East

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon admitted checking the out-of-town scoreboard and liking what he saw. Sean Rodriguez and B.J. Upton hit three-run homers and Tampa Bay beat the Minnesota Twins 6-4 on Tuesday night, winning for the 10th time in 11 games and taking over first place in the AL East. Rodriguez homered in the first inning. Upton put the Rays ahead 6-3 with his tiebreaking drive in the seventh. Jeff Niemann (10-3) allowed three runs and eight hits over seven innings. Tampa Bay moved one game ahead of the New York Yankees, who lost to Toronto 8-2.

By The Associated Press , August 04, 2010