• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Valencia delivers clutch single, Twins top Brewers

Jul 3, 2011 - 10:41 PM Minneapolis, MN (Sports Network) - Three go-ahead runs scored on Danny Valencia's single in the seventh inning, lifting Minnesota to a 9-7 comeback win over Milwaukee in the rubber match of a three-game interleague set.

Phil Dumatrait (1-1) earned the victory with a scoreless inning of relief and the Twins won for the fourth time in five games.

Glen Perkins got the final two outs of the contest to receive the first save of his career.

Kameron Loe (2-7) allowed the deciding runs to cross the plate in the seventh inning.

Mark Kotsay hit a solo homer and a two-run triple, but also had a costly error in the Brewers' fifth loss in six games.

Neither starter was very effective. Zack Greinke went six innings, allowing five runs -- four earned -- on five hits and two walks while striking out nine for Milwaukee and Nick Blackburn allowed six runs on six hits and a walk through four innings for Minnesota.

After blowing a 7-0 lead in Saturday's 8-7 loss, Minnesota returned the favor Sunday by coming back from a 6-1 deficit.

Jim Thome worked a two-out walk in the fourth and Valencia followed with a double before Rene Tosoni smacked a three-run homer to right that pulled the Twins within two.

"That put us in striking distance, but it also gave us the confidence and belief we could come back on these guys," said Michael Cuddyer about Tosoni's homer. "The bullpen did a great job of keeping us in striking distance.

Cuddyer's run-scoring base hit in the fifth made it 6-5.

Rickie Weeks restored the Brewers' two-run cushion with a two-out solo home run against Anthony Swarzak in the sixth inning, setting the stage for the Twins' seventh-inning rally.

Loe took the mound with runners on first and second and two outs. Cuddyer greeted him with a single through the left side of the infield, scoring Ben Revere and making it a one-run game, and Loe then walked Thome to load the bases.

Valencia pulled a single into left. As Kotsay went to field the ball, it kicked off the heel of his glove and back to the wall, clearing the bases and moving Valencia to third. Tosoni struck out to end the inning, but not before the Twins had taken a 9-7 lead.

"I think the balls were hit too hard for me to say that I pitched well. I know they were only singles, but I got the ball up a little bit. I'm supposed to come in and get an out there and I didn't do the job," said Loe.

Matt Capps entered in the ninth to try and finish off the win, but after singles by Weeks and Corey Hart put runners on first and second with one out, he was replaced by Perkins.

Perkins fanned Prince Fielder on three pitches and then got pinch-hitter Casey McGehee to swing and miss on a 2-2 changeup in the dirt to end the game.

Minnesota struck first when Thome hammered the first pitch of the bottom of the second inning over the right-field fence.

The Brewers answered in the third inning on Kotsay's second-pitch homer into the right-center field bleachers, his first of the season.

Milwaukee then took the lead with a five-run fourth.

Nyjer Morgan led off with a single into the left-center gap and went all the way to third after his wide turn at first base forced second baseman Alexei Casilla to throw the ball into the dugout.

After an intentional walk to Fielder put runners on the corners with one out, Mat Gamel laced an RBI double just out of the reach of Tosoni in the gap. Yuniesky Betancourt's hard grounder to short that Tsuyoshi Nishioka couldn't handle scored Fielder. Kotsay then blasted a triple high off the right-field fence to bring in Gamel and Betancourt, and Jonathan Lucroy slapped a single through the right-side of the infield to score Kotsay and make it a 6-1 contest.

Game Notes

Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun, who is on a career-high 22-game hitting streak was the leading vote-getter in All-Star balloting for the National League. He sat out the game. Braun, Weeks and Fielder will be starters for the All-Star game. Cuddyer will also be in the game, but will not start...Thome's homer was the 595th of his career...Milwaukee finished a six-game road trip 1-5...Minnesota is 4-2 so far on a nine-game homestand.