In a tight game mostly about solid pitching, the Twins emerged victorious, 2-1 over the Washington Nationals. Offense of any kind was hard to come by as each team’s pitchers were able to mostly shut down their respective opposing hitters.
There were 10 total hits between the 2 teams, with the decisive one for the Twins coming in the 6th. Joe Mauer hit a sort of bloop single through the legs of Nationals starter John Lannan. Morneau then come up and blasted a two run homer. On the mound for the Twins was Livan Hernandez, who has struggled of late, but turned in a solid outing, going 7 innings and giving up 1 run and 5 hits. This might be just what he needs to turn the bad luck around. Joe Nathan pitched the 9th for his 18th save of the season.
Probably the most important takeaway for the Twins was Hernandez’s performance, as it is hoped he will turn in more starts like this one in the future. While Morneau’s homer won it for the Twins, it also highlighted the general lack of power the team has with Morneau being its only true home run hitter and also the the times where the offense struggles for runs.
