MINNESOTA TWINS 6, SEATTLE MARINERS 5 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Wednesday, April 8, 2009.
Batting stars: Justin Morneau was 2-for-3 with a home run (his first), a double, a walk, two runs, and three RBIs. Jason Kubel was 2-for-4 with a double. Alexi Casilla was 2-for-4. Denard Span hit a two-run homer, his first.
Pitching stars: Craig Breslow pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one. Jesse Crain pitched a scoreless inning, walking one and striking out one. Joe Nathan pitched a perfect inning, striking out one.
Opposition stars: Jose Lopez was 2-for-4 with a home run, his first. Russell Branyan hit a home run, his first. Chris Jakubauskas struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.
The game: The Twins took the lead in the bottom of the first inning, as Alexi Casilla hit a one-out single and Justin Morneau hit a two-out two-run homer. The lead lasted until the top of the second, when Adrian Beltre led off with a double and Russell Branyan followed with a two-run homer, tying the score at two.
The Twins got right back in front in the bottom of the second, as Carlos Gomez led off with a double and Denard Span hit a two-out two-run homer. This time the lead lasted until the fourth, when Jose Lopez homered, Ronny Cedeno hit a two-out single, Yuniesky Betancourt followed with an RBI double, Endy Chavez got an infield single, and a wild pitch put Seattle ahead 5-4.
That lead didn’t last long, either. In the fifth Denard Span led off with a single and went to second with two out on a wild pitch. Justin Morneau and Jason Kubel then hit consecutive doubles to give the Twins a 6-5 advantage.
And that was it. The bullpen held it from there. The Mariners got a man to second base in the seventh, when Yuniesky Betancourt led off with a single and was bunted to second, but he was stranded there. They got only one other baserunner, a one-out walk to Russell Branyan in the eighth, who never got past first base.
WP: Kevin Slowey (1-0).
LP: Carlos Silva (0-1).
S: Joe Nathan (1).
Notes: Jose Morales was behind the plate in place of Joe Mauer. Nick Punto was at short. He played the most games there with 58, followed by Orlando Cabrera with 57 and Brendan Harris with 56. Denard Span was in left. Delmon Young had the most games there with 98, followed by Span with 74.
Denard Span was batting .444. He would finish at .311. Jason Kubel was batting .375. He would finish at .300. Alexi Casilla was batting .308. He would finish at .202.
Craig Breslow had an ERA of zero. He would finish at 6.28. Joe Nathan had an ERA of zero. He would finish at 2.10.
Carlos Silva started for Seattle. He had pitched for the Twins from 2004-2007.
It’s always interesting to me how some guys get chance after chance and others, at most, get one. Chris Jakubauskas pitched in parts of three seasons and in 69 major league games, 15 of them starts. He went 8-10, 5.58, 1.46 WHIP. In no season did he have an ERA under five. Give him credit for persistence–he spent over four years in independent ball before he even got to a major league organization. Unfortunately, he was a better story than he was a pitcher.
Record: Seattle was 1-2, tied for third with Los Angeles in the AL West, 1.5 games behind Texas. They would finish 85-77, in third place, twelve games behind Los Angeles.
The Twins were 2-1, in first place in the AL Central, a half game ahead of Chicago and Kansas City. They would finish 87-76, in first place, one game ahead of Detroit due to winning game 163.
Random Record: The Random Twins are 44-46 (.489).