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Twins stay hot, notch sweep of Padres

Jun 20, 2011 - 12:19 AM Minneapolis, MN (Sports Network) - Drew Butera smacked the game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the ninth to send the Minnesota Twins to a 5-4 win over the San Diego Padres at Target Field.

Rene Tosoni and Matt Tolbert added an RBI double each, while Alexi Casilla hit a home run for the Twins, who have won seven consecutive games, including all three of this interleague set.

Alex Burnett (2-4) pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up the win for Minnesota.

Ryan Ludwick and Chase Headley collected a pair of hits and an RBI apiece for the Padres, who have lost five in a row and eight of nine.

"That's the thing about baseball, you know you go out there, you compete for 27 outs," Padres catcher Rob Johnson said. "I thought we pitched well. They had some timely hitting. They found the holes and that's the way it goes sometimes."

Chad Qualls (3-3) gave up the winning hit to Butera to absorb the loss.

Delmon Young began the ninth with a single and moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Luke Hughes. Tsuyoshi Nishioka was intentionally walked to give the Twins runners of first and second. Butera followed with his walk-off single to end it in dramatic fashion for the Twins.

"That's that 'never die' attitude," Butera said. "That's the way we feel right now. We feel any situation in a game we can come back from."

San Diego loaded the bases with one out in the fifth on singles by Orlando Hudson, Will Venable and Johnson. Chris Denorfia lofted a sacrifice fly to center to score Hudson and give San Diego a 2-1 lead. A walk to Jason Bartlett re-loaded the bases with two down for the Padres. Headley topped a ball up the third base line which allowed the runners to move up 90 feet and a run to score for a 3-1 lead. Ludwick flied out to right to stop the bleeding for the Twins.

Minnesota took the lead in the seventh, plating three runs to push out to a 4-3 lead. Michael Cuddyer led off the inning with a double and was chased home on an RBI groundout by Nishioka. Tosoni slapped a double to center to plate Hughes, who reached on a throwing error by Headley. The key hit of the inning came on a double into the left-center gap by Tolbert to plate Tosoni.

San Diego came right back and tied the game at four in the eighth. The Padres loaded the bases with two outs on singles by Ludwick and Guzman and an intentional walk to Hudson. With the sacks full, Venable hit a ground ball to first which Hughes scooped up but Minnesota reliever Glen Perkins was late covering first, allowing Ludwick to score the tying run for the Padres.

Minnesota got off to a fast start, plating a run in its first at-bat on Casilla's solo home run, his first of the season.

Game Notes

Prior to Sunday's game, the Padres activated Hudson from the 15-day disabled list...Minnesota is 14-16 at home this season, and is 6-6 on Sundays...This was Francisco Liriano's 13th career interleague start...Tolbert smacked his eighth double of the season in the seventh...Liriano went seven innings, giving up eight hits and three runs...Padres starter Dustin Mosley worked 6 1/3 innings, giving up three runs -- one earned -- on three hits...San Diego stranded eight runners while Minnesota left only five.