Saturday,
September 18, 2010
Twins Top A’s, Drop Magic Number
The Twins and A’s led off the Saturday baseball schedule with a noon
start time. The early start showed with some slow bats in the early going. The
starting pitchers should get the credit for that too though. Kevin Slowey
gave up a solo homer to catcher Landon Powell in the second inning. He went 6.2
innings and gave up just two runs on five hits. He walked one and struck out
eight. A’s starter Dallas Braden and his tremendous changeup held the
Twins in check, although he was impressive in getting out of some tough
situations. Ben Revere drove in the game-tying run in the fifth inning
with a groundout to shortstop.
Fortunately for the Twins, Danny Valencia is back on fire. He
singled earlier in the game, and with two on in the bottom of the 6th,
he connected on a Braden pitch and launched it well into the bleachers in left
centerfield to give the Twins a 4-1 lead. It was his second in as many games. Jesse
Crain and Brian Fuentes did well in relief, and Matt Capps
came in for the bottom of the 9th and got the A’s in order for the
save.
Kevin Slowey improved to
13-6 on the season, and reduced his ERA to 4.18. Think about that. As tough as
2010 has been for Slowey, maybe it hasn’t been so bad at all.
The White Sox and Tigers are about to start their Saturday afternoon game
(so may have to watch that!), but for now, the Twins have reduced their Magic
Number to …
Any
thoughts? Feel free to leave
your questions and comments here.