Francisco Liriano made no forward progress in his recovery from Tommy John surgery and the Twins couldn’t muster any offense, as they fell to the Indians 4-0. It was an all around disappointment, as they were stymied all night long by Indians starter Cliff Lee.
The offense was abysmal as the Twins were only able to get three hits, all singles, by Matt Tolbert, Joe Mauer and Nick Punto. The only other Twin that got on base was Delmon Young, who drew a walk off of Lee.
Liriano struggled yet again on his path to regain his 2006 form. He gave up only 4 hits over 5 innings while fanning 3, but those went along with 5 walks and they all created 3 runs. Reliever Juan Rincon pitched 2 innings but gave up a solo shot to Casey Blake in the 7th. Jesse Crain pitched perfect in the 8th and 9th as the pitching was able to avoid using too many relievers a day after long reliever Brian Bass was injured and Matt Guerrier threw almost 4 innings.
They were alot of negatives from this game including the lack of offense, but that is due as much to the Twins inability to hit as it was to the brilliant outing by Lee. The only real positive was the fact that there was no need to overwork the bullpen in the temporary absence of both Twin long relievers.
April 18th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Riddick Bonk scores!!!