This was pretty big. A sweep would have been a big surprise so best case realistically was taking three of four, which the Twins did. The White Sox split their series with the Indians so the Twins now lead the Sox by a game and a half and they trail the Tigers by only two games.
Things didn’t start out very well. The Tigers bounced Scott Baker after only five innings and they racked up as many runs as they would in the next three games combined. Not much to say on offense here. Michael Cuddyer hit a solo homerun to bring his season total up to 21. He also has 93 RBIs on the season.
The Twins got the bats going on Friday. They came back from 2-0 and 4-2 deficits and ended up blowing out the Tigers 9-5. Matt Garza was knocked around and gave up four runs on five hits and four walks in 4 1/3 innings. The bullpen really did the job though. They gave up only a single run in 4 2/3 innings and Pat Neshek picked up the win. Joe Mauer scored three runs and Justin Morneau had three RBIs.
Boof Bonser threw a gem yesterday and he was just a little bit better then Nate Robertson. Bonser gave up only a single run on five hits and two walks with five strikeouts in seven innings. Neshek threw a shutout eighth and Joe Nathan saved his 30th game with a perfect ninth. Torii Hunter had the only RBI for the Twins and the other run scored on an error in the 2-1 win.
Johan was Johan today. He threw 6 1/3 shutout innings and he struck out eleven. The Tigers didn’t score a run until the ninth when it didn’t matter. Nick Punto had a huge game. He went four for five with a triple, three RBis and two runs. Hunter scored three times and Mauer and Luis Castillo drove in two in the 12-1 win.
No day off this week, because the A’s roll into town. Oakland has been one of the best teams in the second half so this series isn’t going to be easy. The Tigers somehow have two days off this week and they play Texas next. The White Sox play three against a hot Angels team. Should be another interesting week.
