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Santana wins as Twins hold on for sweep of Mariners

Apr 20, 2007 - 3:42 AM Johan Santana handed the bullpen a nice cushion, and the pen needed it.

Santana pitched seven strong innings and Michael Cuddyer delivered a clutch double in the seventh before the Minnesota Twins held on for a 6-5 victory and their first three-game series sweep in Seattle since 1996.

Sitting comfortably in the dugout with a 5-2 lead, Santana and the Twins received a major scare when Pat Neshek surrendered a two-out, three-run homer to Raul Ibanez in the ninth before closer Joe Nathan allowed a double to Richie Sexson. The righthander regrouped, striking out Jose Guillen swinging for his fifth save.

"A good win and a good series for us," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Johan was Johan. He pitched very well. We got into a little bit of trouble there at the end. Neshek couldn't get through his inning, but Nathan came in and closed the door. We got it done and that's all that matters."

Santana (3-1) yielded a two-out RBI single to left field by Ibanez in the first and a third-inning homer to Yuniesky Betancourt. The lefthander finished with one earned run, four hits and a walk. Seattle did not leave a runner on base against the two-time Cy Young Award winner.

Santana rebounded from a rare home loss last Sunday to Tampa Bay, but he said he didn't let that affect him this time out.

"When you lose a game there are not many things you can do," Santana said. "You just learn from what happened. Even though we had some opportunities early in the game to score runs, I didn't give up. I waited for my teammates to get something going and that's what happened and that's why we got this win."

Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said it was a case of too much Santana and too little offense.

"We just couldn't generate any offense at all off Santana," Hargrove said. "But, there are a lot of clubs that he does that to."

After Minnesota started the seventh frame with two bunt hits, a sacrifice and an intentional walk against Seattle starter Jarrod Washburn (0-2), Julio Mateo relieved and Cuddyer bounced a double off the left field wall, plating two runners for a 3-2 edge. Mike Redmond followed with a bloop down the right field line, scoring two more to open up the contest.

"The batter that hurt us the most was Cuddyer," Hargrove said. "He (Mateo) hung two sliders. The first one he missed it and the second one he didn't miss."

Washburn was tagged for four runs and eight hits in 6 1/3 innings.

"I had a rough seventh inning there," Washburn said. "The guy (Jason Bartlett) led off with a perfect bunt down the third base line. And the next guy (Alexei Casilla), we knew he was bunting and you can't bunt it any more perfect than he did. That created problems right away and I just didn't get it done."

Minnesota second baseman Luis Castillo left in the fifth inning with a left quad strain.

Casilla and 2006 American League MVP Justin Morneau had two hits each for the Twins, who have won their last four road games by a combined 25-12 score.