twin100108
On the homepage
Sunday's paper
Out There
Access Vikings
Travel
Twins thrown out: Meek offense manages just two hits
John Danks outpitched Nick Blackburn in a surprising pitchers' duel decided by Jim Thome's homer.
Print this story
E-mail this story
Save to del.icio.us
Share on Facebook
Share on DiggWHITE SOX 1, TWINS 0
Related Content
Jim Thome rounds third after his homer.
Michael Cuddyer out at home.
poll: What doomed the Twins last night?
poll: How do you rate the Twins' season?
More from Twins
CHICAGO — The Twins loaded cases of unopened champagne alongside their equipment Tuesday night and steered their charter home.
After turning an expected rebuilding season into a six-month thrill ride, they hoped to celebrate another division title before heading into a playoff matchup with Tampa Bay.
The dream died in an unexpected way.
The Twins got all the pitching they needed, with Nick Blackburn offering a stirring revival, but the offense disappeared, as Chicago held on to win the AL Central in a 1-0 triumph at U.S. Cellular Field.
There was an epic collision between Michael Cuddyer and A.J. Pierzynski at home plate, but nobody scored until Jim Thome smashed a 461-foot home run off Blackburn high over the center-field wall in the seventh inning.
That was all Chicago needed, as John Danks, a 23-year-old lefthander who was pitching on three days' rest for the first time in his career, baffled the Twins for eight innings.
The Twins' starting lineup came in batting .425 against Danks, but he held them to two hits.
"It hurts pretty good right now," catcher Joe Mauer said.
"One game short -- it's tough," first baseman Justin Morneau said.
Mauer went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts but wrapped up his second American League batting title, at .328.
Morneau went 0-for-3 with one strikeout and finished the season on a 6-for-41 (.146) slide.
"He's battling a lot of things," manager Ron Gardenhire said of Morneau. "He's played a lot of baseball. But you know what, he's the reason we're here. He and Mauer -- those two guys in the middle -- are the reasons we're at where we're at right now."
Cuddyer said Danks impressed the Twins with his velocity early, with a fastball that reached 94 miles per hour. Once the Twins started anticipating fastballs, Danks began mixing in offspeed pitches.
Bobby Jenks pitched the ninth inning for his 30th save, and the White Sox had their first 1-0 victory of the season.
The Twins lost five 1-0 games this year, three started by Scott Baker and two by Blackburn.
"It's a great pitching performance by both guys [Danks and Blackburn]," Mauer said. "It's just frustrating. You have your guy out there battling and making his pitches, and as an offense, you want to put up a lot of runs for a guy like that."
The Twins' best chance came in the fifth inning, when Cuddyer hit a leadoff double, the Twins' first hit of the night.
Delmon Young moved Cuddyer to third base with fly ball that pushed center fielder Ken Griffey Jr. back a few steps.
Brendan Harris followed with a popup to short center, and the Twins opted to test Griffey's weakening arm.
The 6-2, 215-pound Cuddyer went right after his former teammate. Pierzynski fell to his back but held on to the ball, holding it up to Cuddyer's face, in fact.
"A.J. just barely held on, but he did hold on," Gardenhire said. "He made sure he showed us, too -- like he always does, in typical A.J. fashion.
"You've got to take a shot. There's no runs being scored. You never know how Griff's going to throw the ball. He's a great outfielder, a Hall of Famer, but you just don't know."
It was only the eighth one-game playoff in major league history, and Twins got very little from an offense that recorded the third-highest run total in team history, with 829.
"Very excited, probably a lot of emotions," Gardenhire said. "Probably a lot of not tight but tense moments. You could see our swings, we were tentative and not swinging great tonight."
Blackburn held the White Sox to one run on four hits in 61/3 innings.
"That's the best performance I've ever seen from him," Mauer said, "given this atmosphere, in Chicago. He was able to calm himself down and did a great job for us.
"The other guy, same way. He threw the ball well and had us off-balance all night. Sometimes you've got to tip your cap. It's just not fun the last game of the year and the winner goes to the playoffs."
Recent Twins stories
Yankees top Phillies 7-3 for their 27th championship - October 1, 2008
Yankees top Phillies 7-3 for their 27th championship - Powered by Hideki Matsui's record-tying six RBI, New York won a record 27th World Series crown. More
See thousands of photos from other StarTribune.com readers and share your own photos and video today.
 Open House ShowcaseThousands of homes open this weekend!View all open houses >> View all homes for sale >> |
Comment on this story | Read all 362 comments | Hide reader comments