Blackburn's pitching, Young's three hits end Twins skid

By By LA VELLE E. NEAL III, Star Tribune

Last update: May 16, 2008 - 11:53 PM

DENVER – Twins manager Ron Gardenhire called off pitchers’ batting practice on Wednesday, which bummed out righthander Nick Blackburn. He wanted every opportunity to improve his swing from hopeless to simply embarrassing.

Who really cares what an American League pitcher does with the handful of at-bats given to him every year for interleague play?

Blackburn’s main goal was to shut down Colorado’s bats and help end a three-game losing streak.

Blackburn is far from embarrassing on the mound, where he did his job on Friday during a 4-2 victory over the Rockies.

He faced the minimum over the first three innings and put on a performance that has the Twins believing he can be a reliable starter.

Over seven innings, Blackburn held the Rockies to two runs and six hits, with no walks and five strikeouts. At 4-2, Blackburn is second in victories behind Livan Hernandez and his surprising 6-1 record.

The Twins got three hits from Delmon Young and two sacrifice flies by Adam Everett as they won their first-ever regular season game at Coors Field in front of an announced crowd of 35,336 that included a large contingent of their own fans.

Joe Nathan earned his 13th save but needed Carlos Gomez to catch a drive just before crashing into the fence for the final out.

And Blackburn did get a hit. After being a day late on a 95-miles-per-hour fastball by Colorado righthander Ubaldo Jimenez in the fourth, Blackburn bounced the next pitch into the hole at short and beat it out for his first major league hit.

The Twins dugout saluted Blackburn with a standing ovation. Backup catcher Mike Redmond signaled for the ball to be taken out of the game for Blackburn to keep.

Other than Blackburn, the Twins got a somewhat encouraging performance from Young.

The Twins continue to wait for Young’s first homer with his new team — or at least his first hard-hit ball in a long while.

But he at least showed signs of something on Friday when he singled, doubled twice and scored twice.

His first hit wasn’t impressive — a slow bouncer to second that he was able to beat out. He bounced a double down the left field line in the fourth and scored on Mike Lamb’s single. He bounced a double down the right field line in the sixth and advanced to third, luckily, on a flyout to left when Ryan Spilborghs’ throw was off line and got past relay man Clint Barmes.

Young then scored on Everett’s deep fly ball, giving the Twins a 3-2 lead.

OK, Young didn’t kill the ball. But the double in the fourth was his first extra-base hit since April 22 — a span of 77 at-bats.

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