Archive
Blackburn’s gem gives Twins series win
MINNEAPOLIS — A lot of people will tell you that good pitching, or hitting, can be contagious. Nick Blackburn is not one of them.
Over the last four games, the performance of the Twins’ pitching staff might suggest otherwise. It was another fast-paced pitchers’ duel at Target Field on Thursday — the fourth in a row — and once again, the Twins came out on top, with a 1-0 victory.
Thanks to a solo home run by Michael Cuddyer and eight shutout innings from Blackburn, the Twins swept the rain-shortened series against the White Sox. Twins closer Matt Capps also pitched a scoreless ninth for his first save since June 6 and his ninth of the season.
“Blackie was a great story today, threw the heck out of the ball,” said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. “Good sinker, slider, he had it all — changeup — working. … A heck of a game.”
Blackburn followed up dominant performances by Scott Baker, Francisco Liriano and Carl Pavano with one of his own. The right-hander scattered seven hits over eight scoreless innings of work, with one strikeout, a walk and a hit batter. He needed just 95 pitches to get through eight, before the Twins called upon the bullpen to close out the game.
One of the keys for Blackburn was the aggressiveness of the White Sox at the plate, which he used to his advantage.
“No one is up there trying to work the count too much, a lot of first-pitch swingers and guys who kind of put it into play early in the at-bat,” Blackburn said. “When everything’s coming out of my hand pretty well, that can sometimes play into my advantage.”
After Baker allowed one run in a complete game on Saturday, Liriano followed by giving up one run over eight innings while flirting with both a perfect game and no-hitter on Sunday. Pavano followed with another complete game on Wednesday night, and Blackburn continued the trend with his performance.
Over the last four games, Twins starters have allowed just three runs over 34 innings of work, posting a 4-0 record with a 0.79 ERA. Blackburn improved to 6-4 on the season, while lowering his own ERA to 3.16.
Minnesota entered the game with a Major League-leading 1.94 ERA in June, and lowered it to 1.80 with Thursday’s shutout of the White Sox.
“It kind of reminds you of ’06 — that run that we had in ’06 where you felt like you were going to win,” Cuddyer said. “You felt like, no matter what, you were going to win the game. And all that is, is just confidence.
“You get that confidence and you start feeling like you can win every game, and that’s kind of how we feel right now.”
During that 2006 run, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen dubbed the Twins the “piranhas,” because they just kept coming after opposing teams again and again with bloopers and infield singles — with players like Jason Bartlett, Nick Punto and Luis Castillo.
Asked about what the 2011 Twins were, if the 2006 club was the piranhas, Guillen had a new label for the current Minnesota ballclub, which featured a speedy center fielder and two quick infielders batting 1-2-3 in Thursday’s lineup.
“These are the little sardines here,” Guillen said. “They are sardines … but they can play. That kid who is the leadoff guy … pretty good. When you’re missing [Justin] Morneau, [Joe] Mauer, [Jim] Thome and [Jason] Kubel and you’re still winning games, you have to give those guys credit.
“They never sit back and say ‘We’re missing the big boys.’ They continue to play. That’s the reason Gardy is the most underrated manager. … I think Gardy makes those guys play, and play right. He gets the most out of his players, and they will be in the pennant race.”
Shortstop Tsuyoshi Nishioka made his first start for the Twins since suffering a fractured left fibula on April 7 in New York, batting third behind Ben Revere and Alexi Casilla. Nishioka went 1-for-4 at the plate, singling in the eighth — while showing excellent range in the field and improved arm strength, though he was also credited with a sixth-inning error.
Leading off the bottom of the second inning, Cuddyer crushed a 2-2 fastball from lefty Mark Buehrle into the bullpen in left-center field. It was Cuddyer’s 10th home run of the season and his 27th RBI.
Buehrle gave up just the one run on three hits — two by Cuddyer — in seven innings, but took the loss.
In his career against Buehrle, Cuddyer is batting .344 with three home runs. His 33 hits are the most for Cuddyer against any pitcher. Cuddyer is batting .340 with five doubles, seven home runs, 22 RBIs and 11 walks in his last 28 games, dating back to May 14.
“I feel good right now,” Cuddyer said. “It’s all cyclical, you’ve got to ride those good times out. Right now is a good time — and fortunately, we were able to get wins to go along with it.”
Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Twins turning it on with plenty of time left
MINNEAPOLIS — Heading into the month of June, the Twins were 20 games under .500 and 16 1/2 games out of first place. Injuries were piling up, and it was beginning to look like a lost season in Minnesota.
In just the past two weeks, the Twins have become one of the hottest teams in baseball. All of a sudden, the outlook in Minnesota is getting brighter, and there are certainly plenty of reasons for Twins fans to be excited.
“I think they’re going to be all right,” former Twins right-hander Jim Perry said. “I think if they go out and get these series and win three games in a series or win two out of three, they’ll be right back in the running.”
Shortstop Tsuyoshi Nishioka returned to the club on Wednesday, appearing in a Twins uniform for the first time in months after he suffered a fractured left fibula in early April. After putting in plenty of work at extended spring training and a seven-game Minor League rehab stint, Nishioka is expected to make his Target Field debut against the White Sox on Thursday.
Just one day after Nishioka’s return, All-Star catcher Joe Mauer will rejoin the Twins on Thursday after a seven-game rehab of his own. Mauer had been out nearly as long as Nishioka with bilateral leg weakness, leaving a big hole in the lineup.
With Mauer and Nishioka in the lineup together again, the Twins are getting closer to the roster they started with out of Spring Training.
“I think it’s exciting, yeah,” designated hitter Jim Thome said. “Especially with as hard as those guys have worked down there, Nishi and Joe, and the rest of the guys here obviously have done a great job lately. So it’s kind of exciting to see where our team could go.”
Thome should provide Twins fans with plenty of excitement over the summer himself.
While he’s been slowed by an oblique injury and, more recently, a strained quad, Thome remains just seven home runs away from 600 for his career. Thome would become the eighth player in Major League history to reach the milestone, and the first since Alex Rodriguez did last season.
Another individual honor worth tuning in for is the Hall of Fame induction of Twins broadcaster Bert Blyleven. A two-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion, Blyleven was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame this year in his 14th year of eligibility.
Blyleven will be inducted on July 24 in Cooperstown, N.Y.
On July 16, it will be Bert Blyleven Day at Target Field, as the Twins host the Royals. Blyleven will have his No. 28 jersey retired by the Twins in a pregame ceremony.
Minnesota’s current pitching staff is worth getting excited about as well, with the starting rotation entering Wednesday having gone 7-3 with a 2.38 ERA through the first 12 games of June. Over that stretch, Twins starters recorded 55 strikeouts with just 14 walks, while holding opponents to a .259 average and recorded eight quality starts.
This month has seen the pitching improve greatly from the first two months when Twins starters went 7-14 with a 4.97 ERA in April and 6-9 with a 4.17 ERA in May. As the starters have improved, the Twins have been in nearly every game this month into the late innings.
“It’s been great,” Cuddyer said. “These guys have been great, and that’s another reason why we’ve been winning over the last couple weeks.”
Even the bullpen has been strong in June, allowing just three earned runs for the month entering Wednesday, posting a 0.98 ERA over 27 2/3 innings of work. Overall, the pitching staff had a Major League-best 2.02 ERA in June through 12 games, a full run better than any other team in the American League.
If the Twins continue to pitch as they get key parts of their offense back into the mix this month, their chances are good to continue riding their current hot streak.
While they’ve dug themselves into a bigger hole this season than in the past, the Twins have made a habit of improbable late-season comebacks. With the way things have been going lately, there’s plenty of reason for fans to think the Twins could make a run at the division title again in 2011.
“I don’t see why not,” Cuddyer said. “But right now, we’ve just got to go out there and continue to play each individual game and hopefully win.
“[But] we can’t have the mentality of going in there saying we’re chasing guys. We have to worry about winning each individual game. And if we do that, hopefully, when you look back at the whole thing, you are where you want to be.”
Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Twins notebook, 6/14
Morneau tries to hit, placed on disabled list
MINNEAPOLIS — First baseman Justin Morneau is the latest in a long list of Twins to hit the disabled list this season.
Morneau was placed on the 15-day DL with a left wrist strain and will have his wrist immobilized for 10 days, Twins general manager Bill Smith said after Tuesday’s rainout. The move is retroactive to June 10.
“We’re looking at this as a short-term event, but we will put him on the DL,” Smith said. “Rest, and they believe it will come around in that 10 days, plus a few days to get his range of motion back.”
The Twins will make an additional roster move before Wednesday night’s game to replace Morneau on the 25-man roster.
Morneau, who has not played since Thursday to rest his sore left wrist, had the MRI on his wrist looked at by a specialist, Dr. Thomas Varecka, who recommended a cortisone shot. After getting the cortisone shot on Sunday, Morneau hit in the cage on Tuesday and didn’t feel good.
“He came in today, said he felt pretty good, went down to the cage, took about 20 swings, and it wasn’t as good as we had hoped,” Twins head trainer Rick McWane said.
After the session in the cage did not go well, Morneau was sent to see Varecka, and that meeting resulted in the decision to put Morneau on the DL.
Nishioka may rejoin Twins on Wednesday
MINNEAPOLIS — It’s not official yet, but Tsuyoshi Nishioka could be back in a Twins uniform as soon as Wednesday.
Nishioka played nine innings at shortstop on Tuesday in Toledo for Triple-A Rochester, and is scheduled to travel back to the Twins Cities on Wednesday.
“What we want to do is let the doctors and trainers see him,” said Twins general manager Bill Smith. “They haven’t seen him in a long time. He’s been down in Fort Myers for a long time. So we want to let them see him before we do anything further.”
Nishioka went 0-for-4 on Tuesday, and batted .333 in three games with the Red Wings, going 4-for-12 with a double, an RBI and a walk. In four games with Class A Advanced Fort Myers, Nishioka also was 4-for-12, with a double, an RBI, two walks and a stolen base.
Before fracturing his left fibula against the Yankees on April 7 in New York, Nishioka played six games at second base for the Twins. He batted .208/.269/.519 with a double, two RBIs, two walks and a stolen base.
Since going down to Fort Myers, Nishioka has been working on turning double plays at both shortstop and second base, even spending some time with Hall of Famer Paul Molitor.
“Molitor did a lot of work with him,” Gardenhire said. “I talked with Moli today, and he said he actually moved around really good both sides. He’s moving around very well at shortstop, arm strength’s a lot better than Moli saw in Spring Training.”
Gardenhire and the Twins have said they plan to move Nishioka to shortstop when he returns, in part due to the nature of his leg injury. At shortstop, Nishioka will have a better view of the runner coming at him during a double play, rather than facing away from the runner while awaiting the throw as the second baseman.
In addition to working on his play at shortstop, second base and around the bag on double plays, Molitor gave Nishioka some advice on recovering from injuries, having dealt with a few during his career himself.
Molitor said he really didn’t get to see much of Nishioka before the injury, but he does like what has seen during his rehab work in continuing to adjust to the differences between baseball in Japan and the Major Leagues.
“He’s done very, very well,” Molitor said. “How well he’ll do as he comes back from not only a disappointing injury but also acclimating to Major League Baseball, I couldn’t tell you. But I do believe that, in time, he’s going to be a very good player.”
Butera’s dad prepared him for The Show
MINNEAPOLIS — Twins catcher Drew Butera has been around baseball all his life, and he has his father, Sal, to thank for that.
When the younger Butera was born on Aug. 9, 1983, his father was in the middle of his only year with the Tigers, spending most of the season at Triple-A Evansville.
On April 9, 2010, when Drew made his Major League debut nearly 30 years to the day after Sal’s debut, the Buteras became the first father-son combo in Twins history.
“It’s pretty special,” Drew said. “I guess we’ll be forever a trivia question. It’s pretty cool. I’m glad I could follow in his footsteps, and I’ll hopefully have a long career.”
Drew is in just the second season of his career, but if he follows a similar path to his father, he could have eight or more years left ahead of him. Sal made his big league debut with the Twins on April 10, 1980, spending three seasons in Minnesota before going to Detroit.
Sal then spent a year with the Tigers organization and two with the Expos. After spending the 1986 campaign in Cincinnati, the Reds released Sal during the 1987 season, and he quickly re-signed with the Twins, becoming a member of the ’87 World Series champions.
His career certainly had an impact on his son, but he didn’t force baseball on Drew.
“He kind of let me choose my own path,” Drew said. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. He never really forced it on me. He was always there for me whenever I wanted to work on things or just go out and play catch. Same thing with my mom, but I think just being around him and being around his profession really made me want to become a professional baseball player and follow that path.”
Drew said his mother was a “stickler” for bedtimes and strict schedules, but he would spend time in the clubhouse with Sal whenever he could.
It was during those times that he really got to see what life in the Major Leagues — and Minor Leagues — was all about.
“Probably some of the best memories I had were when he was coaching in Toronto,” Butera said. “I’d wake up in the morning, do my school work for summer school and walk to the ballpark with him around 11 or 12 every time he went. He would hit me ground balls, throw me BP and I’d get to watch guys like Jose Canseco, Shannon Stewart, Roger Clemens, all those guys go to work. So for me, that was probably the best time I had, and probably the most influential time.”
Drew tries to make sure he calls both his mother and father every day. And when he talks to Sal, it’s not necessarily about baseball.
In fact, Drew said that though his father has given him plenty of advice, it only comes when he asks Sal for it.
“He’s made it really special for me, to be able to communicate about any situation because he’s been through it,” Drew said. “Whether it’s going 0-for-25 or getting four hits, he’s been there and done it, and he’s always had some congratulatory words or inspirational words.”
Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Waiting game may have affected Liriano
MINNEAPOLIS — On average, each half-inning on Sunday at Target Field lasted just under eight minutes. The bottom of the seventh took 29 minutes, 48 seconds.
Whether it played a part in breaking up Francisco Liriano’s no-hitter is up for debate, but it certainly didn’t seem to help.
“It didn’t bother me physically, but I started thinking too much about that no-hitter,” Liriano said after the Twins’ 6-1 win over the Rangers. “I tried to overthrow that inning and was trying to be too perfect. And I then [gave up] a hit when I got behind in the count.”
After an error by third baseman Luke Hughes broke up Liriano’s perfect game in the top of the seventh, the Twins lefty headed to the dugout needing six outs to complete his second no-hitter in 40 days.
Then the Twins’ offense came alive.
Leading off the seventh, Danny Valencia lined a single off the arm of Rangers starter Matt Harrison, knocking him out of the game. After the pitching change delayed the inning, reliever Mark Lowe was not quite as effective or efficient as Harrison had been.
As a result, Liriano sat in the dugout for nearly 30 minutes between pitches.
“It’s tough when you have one big long inning,” Valencia said. “It keeps him in, and it keeps him cooled off for a while. So I’m sure it’s frustrating, but no pitcher is obviously going to get mad about getting run support. At the same time, with what’s on the line for him from a personal standpoint, it’s probably something that’s not ideal in that situation.”
Lowe got Jason Repko to ground out, but an error on shortstop Elvis Andrus put Rene Rivera on first and brought Valencia home from second. Two batters later, Ben Revere struck out, but reached first on a wild pitch.
Alexi Casilla followed with a single to drive in Rivera, and Michael Cuddyer drove a three-run blast into the seats in right, putting the Twins up, 6-1, over the Rangers.
As the rally kept building, did the thought of getting Liriano back on the mound cross Cuddyer’s mind?
“[Heck] no. No, you score as many runs as you can, especially against a team like that,” Cuddyer said. “First and foremost you want to win. Obviously everyone wanted to see a no-hitter, everybody wanted to have that happen, but bottom line is, you want to win the game.”
After Cuddyer’s home run, the Twins kept hitting, though they did not plate anymore runs. Delmon Young and Hughes followed with singles before Valencia finally flied out to center field to get Liriano back on the mound.
When he got back out there, Liriano got to 3-0 on Adrian Beltre before giving up a single. A wild pitch and another single two batters later plated the Rangers’ only run.
“It’s almost like a rain delay there when you’re at 70-something pitches and you have to sit out for 30 minutes,” said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. “We kept telling him he had to get up and move around. And not only did he have 70 pitches, he had a no-hitter, too.
“So we told him to move around, because it was a long inning. So we were worried when he went out there. His first few warmup pitches weren’t pretty. And his first few pitches were rushed out there.”
Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Twins notebook 6/12
Thome to start rehab work on Monday
MINNEAPOLIS — Eligible to return from the 15-day disabled list on Thursday, designated hitter Jim Thome will begin rehab work in Fort Myers, Fla., on Monday.
Thome, sidelined since June 2 with a strained left quadriceps, has made progress over the weekend since receiving an epidural on Friday. Before the Twins’ series finale with the Rangers on Sunday, Thome even took some swings in the cage.
“I’m feeling good,” Thome said. “I swung and had no issues today. Everything went good.”
Manager Ron Gardenhire said before Sunday’s game that if everything went well, the club would send Thome to Florida.
“He said he would really like to get to Florida and start getting in that heat and start doing his rehab down there and get back to swinging,” Gardenhire said. “He likes that program down there because it’s controlled pretty well, but he can get a lot of work in because there are so many bodies down there that are willing to try to do something.”
Until he begins working in Fort Myers, though, Thome won’t know whether he’ll be ready to return to the Twins when he becomes eligible on Thursday.
Even if it takes Thome a few extra days to return, the Twins should have a pretty formidable lineup when he does, with Joe Mauer and Tsuyoshi Nishioka expected back from the 60-day DL in the next week.
“I think it’s exciting, yeah,” Thome said. “Especially with as hard as those guys have worked down there, Nishi and Joe, and the rest of the guys here obviously have done a great job lately. So it’s kind of exciting to see where our team could go.”
Morneau, others making progress in recovery
MINNEAPOLIS — Hand specialist Dr. Thomas Varecka has not yet seen the MRI taken of Justin Morneau’s left wrist, but that should not delay Morneau’s scheduled return.
The MRI showed some fluid but did not reveal any structural damage. Morneau may receive a cortisone shot at some point, but he is expected back in the lineup on Tuesday after sitting out Saturday and Sunday and the Twins’ off-day on Monday.
“[Varecka] probably will see it [on Monday],” said Twins head trainer Rick McWane.
McWane also gave updates on the rest of the injured Twins, though there are no major changes for any of them.
Relievers Kevin Slowey (abdominal strain) and Joe Nathan (elbow soreness) continue to work in Fort Myers, Fla., at extended spring training. Slowey was scheduled to throw off a mound on Sunday, and Nathan is set to face hitters on Monday.
Tsuyoshi Nishioka (fratured left fibula) and Glen Perkins (strained oblique) are with Triple-A Rochester in Toledo, with Perkins having thrown a scoreless first inning on Saturday, allowing one hit. Nishioka was scheduled to play on Sunday, and Perkins will throw two innings on Tuesday night in Toledo.
Nishioka is expected to return sometime this week, and Perkins could be back soon as well.
Center fielder Denard Span, on the seven-day DL with a concussion, is “getting better,” McWane said.
Eligible to return on Tuesday, Jason Kubel continues to feel better every day.
“He’s still doing well hitting, [but] he’s still a little bit sore running around,” McWane said. “We’re just progressing him as he tolerates.”
A Schelling For Your Thoughts 
You must be logged in to post a comment.