Twins 4 - 3 Athletics
Final/10
  for this game

Plouffe, Twins beat A's in 10 innings

May 19, 2011 - 7:12 AM

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Oakland, CA (Sports Network) - Trevor Plouffe knocked in a career-high three runs, and his sacrifice fly scored Delmon Young in the 10th inning, lifting Minnesota to a 4-3 win over the Oakland Athletics.

The Twins, who took advantage of an error on first baseman Daric Barton in the 10th, won their second straight following a nine-game skid. Justin Morneau singled in the other run for Minnesota.

Kevin Kouzmanoff had a two-run single for the A's, who were coming off a 14-0 win over the Angels on Tuesday.

Brian Fuentes (1-4) gave up a single to pinch-hitter Delmon Young to start the 10th. Alexi Casilla then hit a one-hop bunt toward a charging Barton down the first base line. Barton tried threw the ball over the head of a ducking Fuentes, but it was too high to second base and darted into the outfield. That allowed both runners to advance to scoring position. Denard Span grounded out to first, but Plouffe then lifted a fly ball to right field. The throw home from David DeJesus was cut off.

Barton tried to make amends for his miscue in the bottom of the 10th. He clubbed a 3-2 pitch very deep to right field, but Michael Cuddyer caught the ball in front of the wall to end the game.

"You gotta just look forward to tomorrow after a tough one like that," said A's manager Bob Geren. "That's all you can do."

Joe Nathan (1-1) retired two batters to earn the win and Matt Capps logged his seventh save of the season.

Jason Kubel doubled in the opening inning before scoring on Morneau's base hit.

Kouzmanoff singled in two in the second, but Plouffe did the same in the third to give the Twins a 3-2 edge.

It stayed that way until the sixth when Barton led off with a double and scored on Hideki Matsui's single to right.

"We were able to bounce back," said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. "It's always disappointing when we score, and the other teams comes back."

Oakland put two men on base in the ninth, but Mark Ellis was called out on strikes and pinch-hitter Conor Jackson grounded into a force play to send the game to the 10th.

Game Notes

Both starting pitchers -- Minnesota's Carl Pavano and Oakland's Brandon McCarthy -- lasted seven innings...DeJesus went 0-for-5. He had a 25-game hitting streak against the Twins broken. That was one short of the record for longest hitting streak against the Twins. Ron LeFlore holds the mark with a 26-game streak (August 3, 1977 to September 11, 1981)...Oakland's Grant Balfour had one inning of scoreless relief. He has not allowed a run in his last 13 games, a span of 13 1/3 innings.






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