Rotation is developing a winning routine

Boof Bonser made it 3-for-3 in quality starts this season in pitching six shutout innings and earning his first victory.

By JOE CHRISTENSEN, Star Tribune

Last update: April 13, 2008 - 11:59 PM

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TWINS 2, KANSAS CITY 0

Up next: at Kansas City

1:10 p.m. today • TV: Ch. 29 (1500-AM)

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KANSAS CITY, MO. — This Francisco Liriano guy better be good if he wants to keep pace with the rest of the Twins' starting pitchers.

Liriano will return to a big league mound today for the first time since Sept. 13, 2006, but it's not like this team is desperate for his services.

Boof Bonser and three relievers drove home that point Saturday, as the Twins blanked the Royals for the second night in a row, this time 2-0 before an announced sellout crowd of 36,300 at Kauffman Stadium.

Jason Kubel hit a second-inning home run off Kansas City starter Brett Tomko, Denard Span hit an RBI single in the seventh, and the Twins held on for their third consecutive victory.

After 11 games, Twins starting pitchers have combined to go 6-4 with a 3.22 ERA. The team hasn't had back-to-back shutouts since Sept. 2-3, 2004, against Texas and Kansas City.

Liriano will pitch today's series finale, opposite Royals righthander Brian Bannister.

"He's kind of one of those guys who can make your staff go from OK ... to being pretty impressive at times," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said of Liriano. "He had No. 1 dominating stuff, before he got hurt. Now we'll have to see if he's got No. 1 dominating stuff coming back and whether he can throw it over [the plate]."

That's one area where Twins starters have thrived. In 67 innings, they have walked only seven batters, the fewest in baseball.

Bonser (1-2) walked his first two batters of the year Saturday, but that wasn't bad considering he said he could barely feel his fingers on a night when the windchill dropped to 31 degrees.

"You try not to think about how cold it is out there," the Florida native said.

Bonser held the Royals to three hits over six innings, notching his third quality start in three tries and lowering his ERA to 2.84.

He threw 89 pitches, and Gardenhire said he would have sent him back out for the seventh, had it not been for a marathon top half of the inning that produced just one run.

Span's RBI single gave the Twins some cushion, but they had the bases loaded with no outs before this inning-ending sequence: a three-pitch strikeout by Carlos Gomez, a popout by Matt Tolbert and a called third strike on by Joe Mauer.

"We had a chance to really break it open," Gardenhire said. "They made pitches, and we swung at pitches."

But the Twins' old reliable combination of Matt Guerrier, Pat Neshek and Joe Nathan breezed through the next three innings, with Nathan pitching the ninth for his fourth save.

Afterward, Nathan complimented Bonser, who didn't give up a hit until Ross Gload singled with one out in the fifth.

"We hope our young staff can get off to a good start and get some confidence, and this is a good start for [Bonser]," Nathan said. "The other big boost is having Liriano back here. Hopefully he's ready to go. We're excited to see him."

In 2006, Liriano's rotation mates included Brad Radke, Johan Santana and Carlos Silva. Those three are gone, but Bonser, Livan Hernandez, Scott Baker and Nick Blackburn are holding their own.

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