Bullpen is big for Twins in another narrow victory

Ramon Ortiz, in his most meaningful performance in months, won after replacing a wild Matt Garza in the fifth.

By Joe Christensen, Star Tribune

Last update: August 5, 2007 - 12:50 AM

The 2007 Twins are not masters of the blowout victory.

They haven't defeated a team by more than four runs since July 6, when they swept a doubleheader from the Chicago White Sox by a combined score of 32-14.

To win, the Twins usually have to scratch, claw, hustle, pitch and play defense with an understanding that it could all crumble with one mistake.

Another example came Saturday, in a 3-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians before an announced 33,663 fans at the Metrodome.

Matt Garza exhausted himself with 93 pitches through four innings, and the Twins managed only three runs in 51/3 innings off Cleveland lefthander Aaron Laffey, in his major league debut.

But the Twins overcame a two-run deficit and received another critical performance from their bullpen, including six big outs from mop-up man Ramon Ortiz (4-4), who earned his first victory since April 17.

The Twins pulled within 5 ½ games of Cleveland with two games still remaining in this important four-game series.

"Our bullpen was super," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Garza had a harrrrddd four innings. He was all over the place, kind of missing the zone."

It was the Twins' first shaky starting pitching performance in seven games, but few things have come easy for this team. Before this, its recent victories were by scores of 5-3, 3-1, 4-1, 3-2, 5-2 and 7-5.

This time, trailing 2-0 in the fourth, the Twins got a one-out double from Jason Bartlett, a run-scoring single from Joe Mauer and then an exciting run-scoring double from Michael Cuddyer scoring Mauer from first.

Gardenhire let Ortiz take over to start the fifth with the score tied 2-2. It was one of the more meaningful situations Ortiz has faced since the team demoted him to the bullpen in late May.

"It's not an easy thing to do," Mauer said of Ortiz's role. "It's kind of like coming off the bench and pinch hitting when you haven't played in a while."

After pitching out of a jam in the fifth, Ortiz turned in a 1-2-3 sixth, and then the Twins took the lead.

Laffey hit Jason Tyner with a pitch to start the inning and then committed a balk, enabling Tyner to reach second.

Bartlett failed to get Tyner to third, but Mauer singled to left field, putting runners at the corners, and then Cuddyer brought Tyner home with a grounder to third, hustling to avoid the double play after Cleveland's Casey Blake made a diving stop.

That made Ortiz the pitcher of record. Ortiz, who signed a $3.1 million contract as a free agent this season, was 3-1 with a 2.57 ERA as a starter in April but has been in the bullpen since an awful May.

"It was nice to win one for him," Tyner said.

To do it, the Twins needed two outs from Dennys Reyes, four from Matt Guerrier and the final three from Joe Nathan, who worked a perfect ninth inning for his 25th save.

"Obviously [Pat] Neshek couldn't throw today," Gardenhire said. "He threw 30 pitches [Friday] night and said his arm was tired, so we had to go with what we had. The rest of the guys stepped up, took the ball and did a great job."

Joe Christensen • jchristensen@startribune.com

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