Twins 6 Athletics 3
- The Twins won their second consecutive game on the road last night with a comeback victory over the A's last night by a score of 6-3. The Twins did this in dramatic fashion as they came back from a 3-2 8th inning lead to score 4 runs in the last 2 innings against the A's bullpen. To lead off the 8th inning Jason Kubel pinch hit and hit his 9th homerun to tie the score at 3. In the 9th Delmon Young singled in the go ahead run and they added 2 more to pick up the win. Even though they had some clutch offense finally the story of the game was Francisco Liriano. Liriano pitched a very solid 6 innings for his 2nd consecutive quality start. Liriano went 6 innings and gave up 3 runs on 5 hits along with 2 walks and 7 strikeouts to lower his era down to 5.99. The bottom line is the Twins can not reach their goals without contributions from Baker and Liriano they are too important to the team. Its good that they both seem to be figuring it out now and getting hitters out. If Liriano can stay away from that big inning he will be really good because pretty much every start a majority of his runs come in 1 inning. In this one he gave up 2 runs in the 4th inning to fall behind. If he can minimize those big innings he will be just fine. Another story to the game was the excellent work of the bullpen as they pitched 3 shutout innings of relief with only 1 hit allowed. Luis Ayala was the first out of the bullpen pitching a perfect 7th inning with a strikeout. Jose Mijeras and Matt Guerrier combined to pitch a perfect 8th. Joe Nathan then came on and picked up his 13th save of the year with a clean ninth inning. Nathan lowered his era to a very good 1.93 on the season.
- The Twins offense for 7 innings was shut down by A's starter Dallas Braden as they were only able to push 2 runs across. Thankfully, they got it going against the A's bullpen. Offensively, the Twins were led by Joe Mauer and Mike Redmond who each had 2 hits in this one. With the 2 hits Mauer is back hitting .415 on the season. After a dreadful series in Seattle Mauer has bounced back to go 6-13 which is a .462 batting average. Last night he also drove in his 36th run of the year. Mauer only has 1 homerun in June after 11 in May so this is back to being the hitter we are used to seeing as he is hitting .417 in June. I still think he will hit between 20-25 homeruns on the year and still hit .350 to win his 3rd batting championship. Redmond seems to be getting it going after a rough start. He went 2-3 to raise his batting average to a decent .271. In June Redmond is hitting .300 which is much better than what he had been doing. Delmon Young had that big rbi single in the 9th to put the Twins ahead that was his 18th rbi of the year. Hopefully, this is the start of a rebirth for Young who has struggled mightily since leaving to be there for his mother. The Twins really need Young to be the run producer they traded for. Carlos Gomez added his 8th rbi, and Brendan Harris added his 11th in the winning cause for the Twins.
- Today, the Twins finish off their series with Oakland as they try to take the series from the A's as Nick Blackburn is on the hill for the Twins.
Rochester Wrap
- The Redwings had yesterday off before beginning a weekend series in Toledo with Kevin Mulvey scheduled to pitch for Rochester.
New Britain Business
New Britain 3 Altoona 1
- The Rockcats picked up their 3rd consecutive win and 2nd in a row against Altoona with a hard fought 3-1 victory over the Curves yesterday afternoon. The Story of the game again was the much improved pitching out of the Rockcats. That has been the reason that the Rockcats are only 1.5 games behind first place Connecticut. The offense has been there all year, but the improved pitching has been the reason they have taken off. Jay Rainville got the start in this one and was very good. He went 5.2 innings and gave up only 1 run on 5 hits along with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts to lower his era down to 4.87. Rainville probably could of gone longer but since they are in the middle of the year they are watching his innings so they have him late in the year. Rainville has been so inconsistant this year because you know he has ace stuff, but half the time he does not show it out on the mound. The story lately is the job of Alex Burnett since his callup from Fort Myers. He has done Rob Delaney's job with the Rockcats and has done it so well they haven't noticed a difference. Burnett went 2.1 innings and only gave up 1 hit and struck out 3 to lower his era down to 1.23 on the year. Anthony Slama came on in the 9th to pick up his 13th save of the year. With the good inning Slama lowered his era to 2.73 on the season.
- The Rockcats did not have a big offensive day as they only picked up 8 hits, but that was enough to pick up the win. Wilson Ramos continued his hot streak since coming off the dl. He went 2-4 with his 2nd homerun and 2 rbi's to bring his rbi total up to 17. Ramos is now hitting .305 on the season after a slow start he has come back from the disabled list on fire. Danny Valencia came back from his slump to go 2-4 to bring his average up to .282. Hopefully, this is the start of a rebound for Valencia who has been in a horrible slump for the Rockcats. He is too good of a hitter to hit like that so it is only a matter of time before Valencia goes back to hitting like we are used to seeing him. Toby Gardenhire had a big game going 2-3 with his 5th rbi of the year and brought his average up to .250 on the year. Brandon Roberts and Erik Lis added hits for the Rockcats in their winning cause.
- Tonight, the Rockcats finish their series with Altoona tonight as they go for the sweep as Ryan Mullins is scheduled to start for New Britain.
Fort Myers Minutes
Lakeland 5 Fort Myers 4
- The Miracle suffered a tough loss last night going down 5-4 to Lakeland. The good news though was because of a loss by Charlotte last night. With the Charlotte loss the Miracles magic number to clinch the first half division title is down to 2. Which means 1 Miracle win and 1 Charlotte loss or 2 Miracle wins will bring the first half title to the Miracle and return Fort Myers to the playoffs. Chris Parmalee led the Miracle attack by hitting his 7th homerun of the year and his 2nd in as many days. With the homerun Parmalee now has the 7 homeruns and 31 rbi's which is very good in the FSL. Steve Singelton, Evan Bigley, and Danny Lehman each contributed 2 hits to the Miracle's attack. Rene Leveret added his 8th double of the year in the loss.
- Even though the Miracle had a good hitting night they really struggled on the hill on this night. David Bromberg got the start and really struggled as he gave up 4 runs on 10 hits in 6 innings of work along with 7 strikeouts without a walk which is a very important thing. With the 4 runs Bromberg raised his era to still a very good 2.44 on the year. The big thing I take from this start though was his no walks because that is the thing about him when he throws strikes he is hard to hit. Henry Arias then came on and did alright giving up only a solo homerun in 2 innings of work. The bad part was the homerun came at a bad time as he took the loss for the Miracle. Arias' record dropped to 1-2 on the year with the loss. Loek Van Mil pitched another inning of relief to continue this strong comeback from arm injuries this year. Van Mil has not given up a run since his return from the disabled list and hopefully this will continue.
- The Miracle start a first half ending 8 game roadtrip with a 4 game weekend series in Daytona with Deolis Guerra scheduled to pitch for Fort Myers.
Beloit Beat
Beloit 4 Burlington 2
- The Snappers continued their better play as of late as they won their 3rd game in their last 4 games. It is too late to get back into the first half playoff chase, but I am really glad that they are still playing hard and still doing whatever they can to win. Michael Allen got the start for the Snappers and pitched very good pitching 4.1 innings and giving up 1 run 0n 6 hits along with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts. With the good outing Allen lowered his era to 5.63 on the year. Allen has pitched much better than his 0-8 record would say. Lately he has pitched even better having only a respectable 4.26 era in his last 4 starts so there is some improvement. Blake Martin then came on and pitched 2 clean innings with 2 walks and a strikeout to pick up his first win of the year and lower his era down to 6.75. Joe Testa pitched the 9th to pick up his 5th save of the year.
- Offensively the Snappers did not get much done as they left 6 guys on base in this one to result in only 3 runs coming across the plate. It was a very even lineup as Drew Thompson was the only one with more than 1 hit as he went 2-3 to raise his average to .200. Everyone in the lineup had atleast 1 hit so everyone contributed to the win. Jon Waltenbury got his 9th double and Dominic De La Osa picked up his 4th double of the year. James Beresford picked up his 10th rbi of the year, Jeff Lanning picked up his 3rd, and Dominic De La Osa picked up his 1oth. It was a very balanced lineup in this one and if the Snappers can have this kind of offensive showing the Snappers should have better luck in the second half.
- Tonight, the Snappers continue their series with Burlington as Michael Tarsi gets the start tonight for Beloit
