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Simontacchi, Guzman lift Nationals past Twins

Jun 9, 2007 - 4:01 AM MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Jason Simontacchi pitched well into the eighth inning and Cristian Guzman scored three times in his return to the Metrodome as the Washington Nationals defeated the Minnesota Twins, 8-5, on Friday.

Simontacchi (3-4) gave up four runs on six hits in 7 2/3 innings - his longest outing of the season. He entered the game with a 3.97 ERA and .238 batting average against in two road starts this season.

Guzman went 4-for-5 with a ground-rule double in his first game in Minnesota since leaving the Twins after the 2004 season.

"He's been pretty hot the last three weeks," Nationals manager Manny Acta said. "He said he likes hitting here. It's a good hitter's place."

Washington entered the contest losers of four of its last five games, but improved to 6-1 in its last seven road contests. Simontacchi has followed that trend, as he is just 1-3 with a 6.45 ERA at home with opponents batting .340 against him.

Minnesota starter Carlos Silva was mostly to blame for this one.

Silva (3-7), who like most of his teammates has been better at home with a 2.53 ERA in five home starts, was tagged for seven runs on nine hits in three innings. Silva entered the game having allowed just three runs in 15 1/3 innings over his previous two starts, but is now 1-6 over his last seven starts after allowing at least five earned runs for the third time in his last five outings.

"Carlos really struggled," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "I was waiting for him to start getting ground balls and he just never did. The fastball stayed up - a lot of fastballs out and over the plate that they were whacking pretty good."

Washington jumped on Silva immediately, with Guzman ripping the first pitch of the game for a single and a sign of things to come. After Ronnie Belliard followed with a double, Ryan Zimmerman grounded to second to give the Nationals a run after three batters.

Silva gave up back-to-back hits to start the second inning as well, and Ryan Church scored on Robert Fick's double-play grounder. After two quick outs to start the third, Silva gave up a single and balked to advance Zimmerman to second, and Dmitri Young singled him home. Church hit an RBI single two batters later.

The Nationals kept the pressure on in the fourth inning, as Fick singled, Ryan Langerhans walked and Guzman hit an RBI single to chase Silva. Zimmerman hit an RBI single and Young a fielder's choice to plate two more runs off former Washington pitcher Ramon Ortiz, with the runs charged to Silva.

"We know what we're supposed to do and how to pitch guys," Gardenhire said. "You've just got to execute and we didn't execute very well."

"His sinker wasn't really sinking like it does," catcher Joe Mauer said of Silva. "You can't pitch up in the zone, especially with a good fastball hitting team like this."

Young drove in his third run of the night to plate Guzman again in the sixth inning, giving Simontacchi more than enough help.

"Everywhere I go I want to play well, not just because I'm here in Minnesota," Guzman said. "I want to keep going like this my whole career."

Three Twins managed to get into scoring position through six innings, with two doing so because of Washington errors. Minnesota finally broke through in the seventh when Jason Kubel blasted a three-run homer to the upper deck in right field.

Acta said Simontacchi - who spent a year in the Twins system after being signed in 2000 - had the best control of his fastball he's had all year. Simontacchi agreed.

"Without a doubt," Simontacchi said. "I was working ahead; I found my curveball the other day and was throwing that pretty good, but everything goes off my fastball. I was working ahead with the fastball and going from there."

Simontacchi got two outs in the eighth before walking Michael Cuddyer, prompting Billy Traber to enter in relief. Traber gave up a single to Morneau and an RBI single to Hunter, with Simontacchi charged with the run. But Saul Rivera got Redmond to ground out to second, ending Minnesota's best chance at a late comeback.

Zimmerman, Young and Church all had multiple hits and scored for the Nationals.

Twins catcher Joe Mauer returned from a 29-game absence due to a strained left quadriceps and finished 1-for-4 with a triple. Justin Morneau went 2-for-4 with a run scored.