Continued: Morneau, Liriano overpower Tigers

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TWINS 10, DETROIT 2

Up next: vs. Detroit • 2:55 today • Metrodome • TV: Ch. 9 (1500-AM)

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Remember when Francisco Liriano went 0-3 with an 11.32 ERA in April?

That same guy has won 15 decisions in a row.

Granted, 10 of those came for Class AAA Rochester, but his renewed confidence was unmistakable Friday night.

The lefthander racked up a season-high nine strikeouts in seven-plus innings, as the Twins bounced back from their dreadful road trip to defeat the Tigers 10-2 at the Metrodome.

Justin Morneau hit a grand slam off Tigers starter Armando Galarraga (12-5) in the fifth inning, and the Twins remained 1 1/2 games back of the first-place White Sox, who beat the Angels 10-2.

If the Twins were to reach the playoffs, it's unclear who would pitch Game 1, but Liriano is building a case.

"He's the ace, I think," Morneau said. "It's looking like he wants to pitch in those big games, when we need the wins, and he's coming through."

Liriano is 5-0 with a 1.44 ERA in seven starts since returning from Rochester, where he won his final 10 decisions. He has removed all doubts in this first year back from elbow surgery.

The only question is durability. Counting his time in the minors, he has now pitched 177 1/3 innings, the most of any Twin.

"My arm doesn't bother me at all," Liriano said. "I'm good to go. I can throw like 40-50 more innings."

Liriano hadn't thrown a pitch in the eighth inning for the Twins all season, but with his pitch count at 86, they let him try it this time, even with a 10-1 lead.

Marcus Thames drilled his second homer, Edgar Renteria singled, and Mike Hessman walked before manager Ron Gardenhire turned to righthander Matt Guerrier.

An announced crowd of 24,424 came to its feet as Liriano walked off the mound.

"He had great stuff tonight," Gardenhire said. "His ball was diving all over the place, and he made them swing -- that's why he's been getting deeper into the ballgames, and that's what I hope we see out of him the rest of the way."

Liriano (5-3) didn't walk a batter in his previous start, when he went seven innings at Oakland. His streak of no-walk innings reached 16 before he finally walked Hessman.

Asked about Liriano's newfound control, Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson chuckled.

"If you would have seen his warmups, you wouldn't have said that," he said.

Liriano couldn't find the plate in the bullpen and had no excuse after flying home from Toronto 12 hours ahead of the team. The other players didn't get to bed until at least 2 a.m., after a loss to the Blue Jays capped a 5-9 trip.

"He had a really rough warmup, but sometimes that's a good omen," Anderson said. "It makes you focus a little more when you face a hitter."

Liriano threw first-pitch strikes to 13 of 24 hitters and went to a 3-0 count four times, but he wound up throwing 63 of 99 pitches for strikes. Once again, most of his fastballs were thrown from 88-91 miles per hour.

"The thing that's made him tough is he's added that changeup," Morneau said. "I don't want to go this far, but he's almost like [Johan] Santana when he can throw that changeup when he wants to."

Almost Santana? Sounds like an ace in the making.

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