Sunday, April, 18th

Twins Talk
Twins 6 (9-3) Royals 5

• The Twins continued their hot start with their fourth consecutive series win which is the first time in Twins history they were able to accomplish this. This one was not as pretty as Friday night as Nick Blackburn struggled, but the offense bailed him out in a 6-5 Twins victory yesterday afternoon at sun splashed Target Field. Nick Blackburn got the start, but was not very effective in this one. Blackburn made it five innings and gave up five runs on seven hits including two Rick Ankiel homeruns along with a walk and three strikeouts to raise his era on the year to 6.05. Brian Duensing then came on and did a very good job throwing two shutout innings on a hit along with a strikeout to pick up his second win along with no defeats. With the two shutout innings Duensings era is at 2.84. Matt Guerrier then came in and pitched a scoreless 8th inning on a walk. Jon Rauch finished the game in the ninth even though like usual he put guys on base. In his inning he gave up a hit and a walk along with a game ending strikeout. It was his sixth save in six attempts to lead the American League. With the shutout inning Rauch's era on the year is now sitting at 1.50 so far.

• Offensively the Twins continue to score runs in bunches as they put up six runs on nine hits and took five walks and have taken 21 walks in the last three games. The Twins were led by Orlando Hudson who stepped to the plate in the seventh inning in a 5-5 tie and belted a homerun off the facing of the upperdeck to put the Twins up 6-5. Hudson went 2-3 with a walk. He hit his first homerun of the year and rounded the bases as quick as he could as not to show up the other time. With the two hits Hudson is now hitting .280 on the year. Joe Mauer broke out of a 0-10 streak by going 2-4 with his ninth and tenth rbi's of the year and brought his average back up to .341. J.J. Hardy went 1-4 at the plate with his first double of the year. Justin Morneau went 1-3 with his rare and i mean rare first triple of the year.

• The Twins have been stung by the injury bug lately. To start out with Nick Punto has missed the last couple games with a groin injury, but he should be back on Tuesday. Jose Mijares has a elbow strain and was put on the disabled list with Alex Burnett returning to the Twins after spending one day in Rochester. Pat Neshek had a cortisone shot in his pitching middle finger and the Twins will know by Tuesday whether he can come back or if they need to put him on the disabled list. Finally, Nick Blackburn was suffering with discomfort in the back of the forearm so he will be pushed back a day to get this taken care of.

• Today, the Twins try to complete a three game sweep with the Royals as Carl Pavano tries to build off two good start for the Twins going against Royals pitcher Luke Hochevar. Gametime is at 1:10 at Target Field in Minneapolis.

Rochester Wrap

Rochester 6 (4-5) Pawtucket 5

• The Red Wings had their home opener yesterday and pulled out a 6-5 victory thanks to a Luke Hughes rbi double in the bottom of the 8th to win the game for the Wings. Yoslan Herrera got the start for Rochester and was very good once again. Herrera went five innings and gave up two runs on four hits along with two walks and three strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 3.12. Kyle Waldrop then came on and had a rough outing for the Wings. Waldrop gave up two runs on three hits in one inning of work to raise his era to 1.50. Jose Lugo then came on and faced two batters and got both of them out. Rob Delaney then came on and gave up a run on a hit along with a walk and a strikeout to pick up the win. Delaney is now 1-1 and saw his era run up to 4.15 on the young season. Anthony Slama pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up his third save of the year. In his inning he gave up one hit along with a strikeout to lower his era to 3.00

• The Red Wings continued their success offensively as they put up six runs on nine hits along with drawing eight walks in this game. The Wings were led by Luke Hughes who went 3-4 at the plate with that game winning double along with his fourth, fifth, and sixth doubles of the year and drove in four runs to bring his season total to four. With the three hits Hughes is now hitting .250 as Luke Hughes appears to be coming out of a early inning hitting slump. Dustin Martin went 1-3 at the plate with his first triple of the year and brought his average up to .333. Brian Dinkelman, Trevor Plouffe, Wilson Ramos, and Erik Lis each contributed a hit apiece in the winning cause.

• Today, the Red Wings continue their series with Pawtucket as Mike Maroth gets the start for Rochester. Gametime is at 12:05 at Frontier Field.

New Britain Business

New Britain 5 (2-7) Harrisburg 3

• Break up the Rockcats as they won their second consecutive game over Harrisburg after losing their first seven as they got good pitching from Deolis Guerra and timely hitting in a 5-3 Cats win. Deolis Guerra got the start in this one and really rebounded from a tough start his first time through the rotation. In this start Guerra went six innings and only gave up two runs on six hits along with four strikeouts to pick up his first win of the year and lowered his era to 4.91 on the year. Cole Devries then came on and pitched three innings and gave up a run on a hit along with a walk and two strikeouts to pick up his first save of the year and lower his era to 2.00 on the year.

• The Rockcats really came out of their hitting slump with a season high 15 hits and scored five runs. It would have been more if not for the nine guys left on base in this game. Offensively the Twins were led by Joe Benson in this one as he went 2-5 with his first homerun and second rbi along with his third and fourth stolen bases to bring his average up to .276. Mark Dolenc went 2-4 with his first homerun of the year and his first and second rbi's of the year. Steve Singleton went 2-4 at the plate to bring his average up to .286. Rene Tosoni went 2-5 to bring his average up to .310 on the season. Juan Portes went 2-5 with his 2nd double of the year to bring his average up to .152. Esterlin De Los Santos went 2-4 at the plate along with his second double to bring average up to .179. Danny Lehman went 2-3 at the plate and is now hitting .409 on the young season.

• Today, the Rockcats continue their series with Harrisburg as David Bromberg gets the start for New Britain as they try to extend their winning streak to three games. Gametime is at 2:05 in Harrisburg.

Fort Myers Minutes

Palm Beach 7 Fort Myers 2 (2-7)

• The Miracle suffered their third straight loss last night to Palm Beach and are in danger of going into last place after a 7-2 loss last night. Bruce Pugh got the start for the Miracle and was not real great in this one. Pugh worked 4.2 innings and gave up six runs on seven hits along with two walks and five strikeouts to pick up the loss and drop his record to 0-2 and raised his era to 9.39. Tony Davis then came on and worked 2.1 innings and gave up no runs on one hit along with two walks and two strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 1.50. Shooter Hunt then came on and saw his control issues continue as he worked one inning and gave up a run on a hit with two walks and two strikeouts to raise his era on the year to 16.20.

• The Miracle continued their season long hitting slump as they were only able to score two runs on nine hits and drew two walks. The Miracle were led by Yangervis Solarte who continued his early season start going 2-4 with his third rbi of the year and brought his average up to .370. Ramon Santana went 2-4 to bring his average up to .194 after getting off to a slow start. Chris Cates is another guy who got off to a slow start, but is coming around as last night he went 2-4 to bring his average up to .174. Chris Hermann went 1-4 at the plate with his second double of the year. Drew Thompson and Jair Fernandez also contributed a base hit each.

• Tonight, the Miracle finish off their series with Palm Beach and try to salvage a game as they send out ace Kyle Gibson to the mound. Gametime is at 4:05pm in Palm Beach.

Beloit Beat

Beloit 4 (5-5) Clinton 3 11 innings

• The Snappers won their second consecutive game with a eleven inning 4-3 victory over Clinton thanks to Aaron Hicks heads up baserunning. Hicks led off with a walk and then stole second and went to third on the throw and scored on a wild pitch. Tom Stuifbergen got the start and was excellent once again. Stuifbergen went six innings without giving up a run on five hits along with two walks and seven strikeouts. Ben Tootle then came on and got drilled again. In one inning Tootle gave up three runs on two hits along with three walks and a strikeout to raise his era on the year to 14.73. Dakota Watts then came on and pitched two shutout innings on one hit along with a strikeout. Matt Tone then came and pitched two shutout innings on no hits along with two walks and a strikeout to pick up his first win of the year to lower his era to 5.14.

• The Snappers had an ok offensive night as they scored four runs on seven hits along with drawing a walk. Offensively they were led by Aaron Hicks who went 1-4 at the plate with his first homerun of the year and his second rbi along with his first stolen base. Hicks is now 2-34 on the year after the hit and hopefully this is what it is going to be the start of a revival because he is way too talented for the slump to continue. Angel Morales is another guy trying to come out of a slump went 1-4 with his first homerun of the year and his third and fourth rbi's to bring his average up to .258. Tobias Streich went 1-4 at the plate with his first triple of the year. Brian Dozier went 1-5 at the plate with his first triple of the year to bring his average to .371. Steve Liddle, Michael Gonzalez, Anderson Hidalgo, and Josmil Pinto each contributed a hit also in the winning cause.

• Today, the Snappers continue their series with Clinton as staff ace Liam Hendricks gets the start for Beloit. Gametime is at 2pm in Beloit.