I hate these west coast trips so this was pretty encouraging as the Twins rolled into Seattle and won all three games. The pitching wasn’t as great as I would have liked but you can’t argue with the results.
Tuesday’s game was the funnest with an 11-2 win. Torii Hunter hit a grand slam and both Joe Mauer and Michael Cuddyer drove in three a piece. Ramon Ortiz has to be the surprise of the season and he improved to 3-0 with another solid outing. He gave up just two runs on eight hits with two strikeouts in seven innings of work.
Yesterday was the first of two one run games. The Twins scored all of their runs early and they did most of it off of an injured Felix Hernandez. Justin Morneau drove in two runs and Joe Mauer scored twice in the 5-4 win. Carlos Silva picked up the win but he gave up three runs in just 6 1/3 innings and Joe Nathan picked up the save before making things interesting and giving up a run.
Tonight, Johan Santana had a solid start but Pat Neshik was shelled for three runs in the ninth to make things interesting. Johan gave up two runs (just one earned) on four hits and a walk with seven strikeouts in seven innings and that pushed him to a nice 3-1 record. Mike Redmond and Michael Cuddyer drove in two a piece and Justin Morneau scored twice in the 6-5 win.
The Twins continue their road trip but this weekend it gets a little easier as the Royals play the host. Sidney Ponson will take on Odalis Perez tomorrow night and I see the biggest problems coming Saturday when Zach Greinke throws. Still, two out of three should be at least what happens.
