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Hunter, Morneau send Twins to thrilling comeback win

May 9, 2007 - 5:17 AM MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Torii Hunter picked a good time to continue his hitting streak. Justin Morneau picked an even better time to squash his struggles with runners in scoring position.

Hunter hit an RBI single in the eighth inning to tie the game and Morneau blasted the second of his two homers in the bottom of the 10th to give the Minnesota Twins a thrilling 7-4 comeback victory over the Chicago White Sox.

Trailing, 4-1, after a masterful seven-inning performance from White Sox starter Javier Vazquez, the Twins rallied for three runs in the eighth off Chicago reliever Mike MacDougal. Hunter, who entered the at-bat 0-for-3, knotted the game at four with a single up the middle, extending his hitting streak to a career-best 22 games.

"I was just trying to see ball, hit ball," Hunter said. "I wasn't thinking about the hit streak.

"A blind squirrel finds a nut every once in awhile. It's just my turn. Everyone will have their turn this season."

In the 10th inning, White Sox reliever Nick Masset relieved Andrew Sisco (0-1) with one out and a runner on second. After intentionally walking Hunter and forcing Michael Cuddyer to pop out to first, Morneau sent a three-run shot to right to give the Twins just their second win in 14 games in which they trailed after seven innings.

"It's not his (Masset's) fault," Guillen said. "It's the guys who pitched before him. I put this kid in the spot he should be, I'm not going to blame him. The bullpen period didn't hold the guys up late in the game."

Morneau, who entered the game batting just .095 (2-for-19) with runners in scoring position and two outs, tallied his first four-RBI game since June 14, 2006.

"It's just nice to get a hit with runners in scoring position," Morneau said. "I was looking for something over the plate. It might have been a ball, but I got the barrel to it and it went over the fence. That's all that matters."

Hunter was batting in the No. 3 spot for the first time this season with teammate Joe Mauer on the disabled list. The game also marked the return of Cuddyer from a five-game absence, but the Twins are still without left fielder Rondell White as well, making Hunter's hot streak even more important.

"He's swinging well," Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He has been for a long time now. We need that out of him. We've got some people down, so we need people to step up. Torii's been doing that for our ball club."

Juan Rincon (2-0) pitched an uneventful 10th to get the win.

Attempting to earn his team-high third win of the season, Vazquez allowed one run on four hits in seven innings - his lone blemish a solo home run off by Morneau in the second inning. But Vazquez threw 107 pitches through seven frames, convincing manager Ozzie Guillen to use his bullpen in the eighth with his team up 4-1.

It turned out to be a big mistake.

Mike Redmond and Nick Punto led off the eighth with singles off of MacDougal, and Jason Bartlett chased him from the contest with an RBI double to score Redmond. Matt Thornton came in and gave up an RBI groundout to Luis Castillo.

"Javy pitched us a great game and you come in for an inning and would like to do better than that," MacDougal said. "I guess you just look forward to tomorrow."

David Aardsma then struck out pinch hitter Jason Kubel for the second out, but Hunter hit a 1-0 pitch past Alex Cintron to tie the score.

"I'm never going to put the go-ahead run on," Guillen said. "I don't care if it's Babe Ruth at the plate. I don't care if its Pete Rose, Barry Bonds. He just got a base hit. Good for him. I'm not going to walk the guy and put him on and possibly lose the game. The only thing he could do is tie it, and he did."

Joe Crede had two hits and two RBI for the White Sox, who lost their first game in six chances this season in which they were tied after eight innings.