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Twins take it to the champs
Minnesota's previously underachieving offense chewed up some woeful Red Sox pitching, winning three times in the four-game series and taking a 1 1/2-game lead in the AL Central.
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Up next: Three-game series vs. Toronto at the Metrodome • Game 1 at 7:10 tonight • TV: FSN (1500-AM)
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At the end of April, the Twins sure didn't look like a team that could keep pace with the Boston Red Sox in a shootout.
The Twins were averaging 3.7 runs per game. But they have been much better in May, averaging 6.4 runs over 10 games, and when the Red Sox came to town, they were ready.
The Twins finished taking three of four from the defending World Series champs Monday night with a 7-3 victory before an announced crowd of 18,782 at the Metrodome.
The Twins outscored the American League's highest scoring team 25-22 for the series.
"You've gotta win at home," said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, whose team has gone 10-1 in its past 11 home games -- against Boston, Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland.
This time, Craig Monroe and Delmon Young drove in two runs apiece, Justin Morneau added two more hits and Joe Mauer scored three runs, helping Twins starter Livan Hernandez improve to 6-1.
The Red Sox jumped on Hernandez for three first-inning runs, including Manny Ramirez's 498th career homer.
But the Twins pieced together three sustained rallies against Buchholz, scoring two in the first, two in the third and three in the fifth.
Buchholz (2-3) gave up seven runs on eight hits in 4 1/3 innings.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox never scored another run off Hernandez after his rough first inning.
He held them to three runs on 10 hits over six innings.
The highlight came when he speared a line drive from Dustin Pedroia to end the second inning, catching the ball a few inches from his head and then spiking the ball on the mound before heading to the dugout.
Why the display?
"Because it hurt," Hernandez said. "I didn't feel my fingers for like 10 minutes."
Juan Rincon followed with two hitless innings of relief and Jesse Crain finished off the Red Sox in the ninth.
The first-place Twins are 7-3 in May after going 13-14 in April. If they needed any more proof that things are going their way, it came in the seventh inning, when Michael Cuddyer turned a potential blooper into a highlight-reel catch.
Pedroia hit a routine fly ball to right field. Cuddyer ran under it, and had the ball bounce off his glove, off his head, off the bill of his cap ... and back into his glove.
"I figured [the game] was on ESPN, I might as well spice it up a little bit," Cuddyer said.
A part-time magician, Cuddyer added, "It was definitely not a trick."
After hitting three home runs with pink bats on Sunday, including two by Craig Monroe, the Twins did all their damage this time with only one extra-base hit -- a two-run double by Monroe in the fifth.
Cuddyer's RBI single in the third inning tied the score 3-3, and Young gave the Twins the lead with an RBI groundout to shortstop. Monroe's double made it 6-3 in the fifth.
"When we left spring training, we knew that we had a pretty good hitting lineup," Monroe said. "And now guys are just getting comfortable."
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ESPN just a bad network...
They make baseball like watching football and football unwatchable. Their coverage is one long advertisement for Sports Center. I … read more wouldn't mind East Coast bias if the coverage was enjoyable. Seriously, another sports network needs to rise from the grass roots and challenge this monolith.
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