The Minnesota Twins vs. Detroit Tigers baseball series was filled with headlines. Twins get spanked, Sidney Ponson gets fired, Justin Morneau breaks his nose and Torii hunter has a magic bat!
The first game vs. the Detroit Tigers was on Friday night and Johan Santana pitched a good game giving up only two earned runs on six hits in six innings. Despite the solid starting pitching, a Michael Cuddyer RBI single in the first inning and a Justin Morneau two-run homer to make it a two-run game in the eighth, the Twins fell short losing the game 3-7. Jesse Crain, Matt Guerrier, Juan Rincon just couldn’t hold the Tigers batters off and the Twins just couldn’t hit the ball when they really needed to.
The second game vs. the Tigers was Saturday afternoon. It’s odd for the Twins to have a 2:45pm game on a Saturday, but the schedule was changed by the power that be and the start time was only the beginning of odd things to happen. Justin Morneau broke his nose in the eighth inning after a Nick Punto throw from third base bounced off a seam in the turf and struck Morneau in the face. Morneau exited the game and the Twins lost 2-8. Sidney Ponson had pitching problems from the start, allowing each of the first four batters he faced to reach base. Two runs would score during that span on RBI singles by Gary Sheffield and Magglio Ordonez. Ponson managed to escape the first with just that damage, but more trouble was on the way and the game was definitely his season ender with the Minnesota Twins.
The third game of the series was Sunday May 13th, Mothers Day. The evening game was sure to be well attended by mothers from around the state and the Minnesota Twins did not want to disappoint. Boof Bonser pitched an OK game for the Twins, but the real stars of the game came at the plate. The Twins pulled in a season-high 22 hits and 16 runs. It was a night of banging the ball around like the Twins had not seen in some time. The Twins club knocked the Tigers around in a 16-4 victory at the Metrodome. A few of the Twins players used special pink bats in honor of Mothers Day and to support Breast Cancer Awareness. Perhaps the pink bats added enough magic to the moment, but most of the Twins victory had to do with Torii Hunter delivering some big hits. Just a few nights after Hunter made what he called one of the top five catches of his career, he followed it up with one of his best offensive career performances. Hunter delivered a career-high seven RBIs as part of a two-home run night. Torii has been hot at the plate and he has been key to keeping the Twins ballclub from sinking into oblivion.
Next up the Minnesota Twins face the Cleveland Indians on the road. The Indians are playing solid baseball and the Twins will be lucky to escape the road trip with a victory.
