Rally gives Twins a feel-good victory

Matt Slocum, Associated Press

Justin Morneau broke his bat on a ground-out in the seventh inning Saturday in Arlington, Texas.

Faced with the prospect of losing to Sidney Ponson, Minnesota scored 10 runs in a three-inning span.

By LA VELLE E. NEAL III, Star Tribune

Last update: April 27, 2008 - 12:41 AM

ARLINGTON, TEXAS — A game that seemed headed toward an embarrassing loss turned out to be the game the Twins have been waiting for.

The Twins had the top-to-bottom production they believe they are capable of as they defeated the Texas Rangers 12-6 on Saturday night.

The Twins surged to victory after falling behind 5-2 as they collected a season-high 16 hits -- 10 of those coming in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, when they scored 10 runs. They can salvage a 3-3 road trip with a victory today.

"We just needed a game where we come out and score a lot of runs so everyone is feeling good, everyone is contributing,'' outfielder Delmon Young said. "Everyone is starting to swing the bat now.''

Young had his first meaningful hit as a Twin, a two-run single in the seventh that gave the Twins the lead for good at 7-5.

Michael Cuddyer hit his first homer of the season, a three-run shot to left in the eighth inning that put the game out of reach.

Two other newcomers, Brendan Harris and Mike Lamb, each had three hits. Lamb, who drove in two runs, entered game batting .182.

"I was starting to lose weight so I could get my weight under my batting average,'' said Lamb, now batting .214.

The only setback was that starting pitcher Scott Baker left the game in the fifth inning because of a mild groin muscle strain. While the Twins don't believe it's serious they likely will move Baker's next start back a few days to make sure he's fully healthy.

After giving away at-bats on Friday during a 6-5 loss, Twins hitters had better approaches on Saturday. Granted, it was against a Rangers team with the worst team ERA in the league, but they had to start somewhere.

"We made them work and made them put the ball over the plate,'' Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said.

The Twins, however, were baffled by Texas righthander Sidney Ponson for half the game -- the same Ponson who was released by the Twins last season after seven starts and was believed to be finished. Saturday's version, the Twins said, threw a little harder with good movement on his fastball.

But Ponson left the game in the sixth inning after throwing 93 pitches. The Rangers, who have the AL's worst fielding percentage, committed two errors in that inning as the Twins scored three runs to tie the score 5-5.

The Twins loaded the bases in the seventh for Young, who smoked a single to left off reliever Franklyn German to drive in Harris and Joe Mauer, giving Minnesota a 7-5 lead. Lamb singled to center to score Cuddyer to make it 8-5. The Twins added four more runs in the eighth, including Cuddyer's homer.

"Tonight was very important game for us,'' Baker said. "We had gone into a little skid. It wasn't the start I wanted, but we persevered, came through and scored some runs.''

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