Boof Bonser most certainly did not live up to the status as having one of the best names in baseball as he couldn’t pitch well at all and the Twins lost to the Rays 7-3. After a strong few starts he hit a wall and the Twins were unable to get the sweep, albeit of a two game series.
Several Twins did have nice offensive outings. Carlos Gomez, Matt Tolbert and Justin Morneau each had two hits, with Tolbert and Morneau each smacking a double. The other hits came from Joe Mauer and Delmon Young, and those were both RBI singles. The Twins continued a nice trend of 2 out RBI hits with Mauer’s hit being one and Tolbert getting the other. Denard Span did score a run and steal a base but he committed two errors in right field, not really building his case for playing time as Michael Cuddyer nears his return.
Bonser just could not get it together, giving up 7 runs, 6 earned, on 7 hits, 2 walks, no strikeouts and a homer to Eric Hinske. After pitching to 4 batters in the fifth and not recording an out, Brian Bass came in to log several innings, but after surrending a hit and walk while only recording one out, a strike out Rays über-prospect Evan Longoria, he had to leave, suffering from a low back strain. He is listed as day-to-day. The other long reliever, Matt Guerrier was called upon, with the bases loaded, to also log some innings, and not get hurt of course. He was nearly flawless, allowing only 3 hits over 3 2/3 scoreless innings.
Though Boof majorly goofed and Bass went down, Guerrier’s outing is great news as a few nights ago as he was partly repsponsible for blowing a 4 run lead in Detroit. The use of both long relievers, Bass being injured and Guerrier getting major work, does not bode well for tomorrow when Francisco Liriano takes the mound as he went just 4 2/3 innings his last outing. So the Twins better hope their middle relievers can pitch a couple innings each.
