16 is anything but sweet for Twins

Marlin Levison, Star Tribune

Detroit's Curtis Granderson slid safely into home beating the throw to Twins catcher Joe Mauer in the 3rd inning.

The Twins bullpen, asked to fill in from the fourth inning on, finally caved in vs. the Tigers, with R.A. Dickey giving up three 16th-inning runs.

By LA VELLE E. NEAL III, Star Tribune

Last update: July 4, 2009 - 1:16 AM

The innings were a blur on Friday. Are we in the 15th or 16th? The bullpens were emptied. The scorecards were a mess.

The Twins were resilient, fighting back from a 7-1 deficit.

They were also unfulfilled, as Detroit pushed home three runs in the 16th inning to win 11-9 and send the remaining Twins fans home in silence in a game that lasted 5 hours, 7 minutes and ended after midnight.

"We're putting cots in the hallway," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said after the game.

Tigers second baseman Placido Polanco singled home Ramon Santiago with the lead run. Then fans scurried for the exits when Ryan Raburn and Magglio Ordonez -- neither of whom started the game -- added RBI singles of their own off R.A. Dickey, the seventh Twins pitcher of the game.

But Polanco deserves the award for being the grittiest player on the field Friday.

Polanco disagreed with plate umpire Eric Cooper all night, striking out three times -- twice looking. It looked like Cooper was on the verge of tossing him from the game in the 12th but didn't.

Polanco, batting in the 14th inning, fouled off a 0-1 pitch from Dickey that bounced up and tagged him right on his protective cup.

Unable to continue right away, Polanco was visited by manager Jim Leyland and the team trainer as whoever was left among the announced crowd of 33,368 egged him on. He finally got back in the batter's box and, on the next pitch, rolled a single to center that scored Gerald Laird for a 8-7 lead.

But the Twins answered in the bottom of the inning when Joe Mauer singled to center, went to third on a single by Justin Morneau, then scored when Michael Cuddyer's liner went off of Brandon Inge's glove at third for single. Morneau tried to advance to third on the play but was thrown out -- a huge mistake.

"We can talk about that all night long," Gardenhire said of Morneau's mistake. "But we've already been here all night."

Dickey, the last pitcher in the bullpen, was on the mound for the final three innings, giving up four runs and nine hits. After escaping the bottom of the 14th, Freddy Dolsi gave up a run in the 16th but held on for the victory.

It ended a staredown of American League Central opponents, as Detroit increased its lead over the third-place Twins to four games. It was the seventh 16-inning game in club history.

Twins righthander Kevin Slowey's second opportunity to win a league-leading 11th game ended with a second consecutive three-inning outing because of shaky control. And after the game, the Twins placed him on the 15-day disabled list because of a strained right wrist, recalling Anthony Swarzak.

The Twins took Slowey off the hook. After Delmon Young hit a solo homer in the fourth off Tigers starter Luke French, they tied it with a five-run sixth.

Joe Crede led off with a homer and Denard Span bounced a two-run triple to right to cut the score 7-5. Brendan Harris followed with another triple to right, then Mauer tied it with a sacrifice fly off lefthander Fu Te-Ni.

After that, the bullpens dug in.

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