The highlight of the Minnesota Twins' 11-4 win over the Detroit Tigers Tuesday night was easily Denard Span's outstanding performance.
The speedy centerfielder, who reached base all five times for five RBI, tied a 30-year-old club record by hitting three triples in a game, knotting himself up in history with Ken Landreaux, who accomplished the feat back in July of 1980 against the Texas Rangers. This also marks the most triples in a game by a single player since Rafael Furcal nailed three in April of 2002 with the Atlanta Braves.
Another highlight: Jim Thome mashed career tater No. 572 for his eighth home run of the year, putting him just one bomb behind one of his idols, former Twin Harmon Killebrew. Also, Joe Mauer did not ground into a double play.
Nick Blackburn allowed four runs on seven hits with four strikeouts over seven innings, ending a miserable month of June. Not bad... not good either.
First place in the American League Central will be settled (at least for a day) at 12:10pm in the rubber match with Kevin Slowey (4-0 career against Detroit) facing rookie Andy Oliver, who is 0-1 with a nice, round 3.00 ERA in one career big league start.
- Is something up with Frankie's arm? [My Team Rivals]
- Is Interleague play still valuable? [Twinkie Town]
- Seth Stohs' voice will calm you. [Seth Speaks]
- Baseball players' better halves. [Life of a Baseball Wife]
- Justin Bieber walkup music? [RandBall]
***A reminder to all who have forgotten or haven't heard about this fantastic deal: I highly suggest you jump on the TwinsTrain July 9-11, as it heads to Comerica Park in Detroit for two games against the Tigers. Joining me on this super fun ballpark roadtrip will be Parker and Seth from TwinsCentric, which will make it at least ten times more fun. My girl Marea from BLB went on the Milwaukee trip last week to Miller Park; you can read about her adventure here. If Detroit doesn't work for you, I encourage you to check out the other fiestas TwinsTrain has to offer, such as a mini-vacation to the windy city this August.
