Santana endures more of same

The reigning AL Cy Young winner pitched well after a rough first. He lost for the third time in four starts.

By La Velle E. Neal III, Star Tribune

Last update: September 17, 2007 - 12:25 AM

There have been too many nights this season in which the Twins failed to bail out ace Johan Santana after he was roughed up early.

It happened again Saturday during the Twins' 4-3 loss to Detroit, their sixth consecutive loss to the Tigers.

Santana gave up four runs in the first inning, including a bases-loaded double by Ivan Rodriguez, before settling down. The Twins came up with runs in the third, fifth and seventh innings but failed to get a big hit late.

The Twins' key hitters -- Joe Mauer, Torii Hunter, Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer -- were 1-for-14 with a walk.

"It's tough because we thought we should have given Johan some run support," Cuddyer said. "That sounds like a broken record."

The grooves are well-worn on that record, as Santana fell to 15-12 with a 3.14 ERA. The Twins, 5-9 against the Tigers, have lost all six one-run games played between the teams this year.

Joel Zumaya (2-3) got the win in relief. Todd Jones picked up his 36th save.

Santana has a 6.39 first-inning ERA, and opponents are batting .307 against him in the first. On Saturday, six of the first nine batters he faced reached base on four singles, a double and a walk.

"They were swinging aggressively," Santana said. "After that, I tried to stay aggressive and get ahead in the count."

Santana held Detroit to one hit the rest of the way -- after a between-innings talk with pitching coach Rick Anderson.

"He's got to be more aggressive with his arm," Anderson said, "instead of trying to feel through things."

Santana, Boof Bonser (12) and Carlos Silva (14) each have at least 12 losses this season, the first time the Twins have had three 12-game losers since 1998.

Training time

Brian Buscher is batting .294 with two homers and five RBI in 21 games, enough to make Twins manager Ron Gardenhire want to see more of him at third base. But Buscher has been eaten up by so many grounders that he's played sparingly since being called up.

Gardenhire wants Buscher to work on his defense during the winter. Stan Cliburn, Buscher's manager at Class AAA Rochester, will coach winter ball in Venezuela during the offseason and has asked Buscher to join him.

"Stan would like for him to play in Venezuela," Gardenhire said. "I would like for him to go to instructional league first and do infield work. We have talked about that."

Johnson's rise

Deron Johnson, who was named the Twins' new scouting director Thursday, is only the second African-American with such a job in Major League Baseball. The other is Dana Brown, the Washington Nationals' scouting director.

Quick research done by Mike Radcliff, the Twins' new vice president of player personnel, reveals Johnson is only the fifth African-American to hold a scouting director position in the league.

Silva update

Carlos Silva, who left his start Wednesday after two innings because of a sore groin muscle, threw in the bullpen Saturday and said he had no problems.

But the Twins aren't ready to name him Tuesday's starter yet,

"I think my pitching coach [Rick Anderson] would rather [back him] up a few days and start him on Saturday, just to make sure Carlos feels good. We'll see how he comes in [today]," Gardenhire said.

La Velle E. Neal III • lneal@startribune.com

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