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Hernandez sharp as Twins rout Tigers

May 3, 2008 - 5:32 AM By Anthony Maggio PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Livan Hernandez bounced back from his worst start of the season to cool down the red-hot Detroit Tigers and lead the Minnesota Twins to an 11-1 victory on Friday.

Hernandez (4-1) yielded a run, eight hits and two walks while striking out four in seven innings against Detroit, which was fresh off a three-game sweep of the New York Yankees.

It was a much different result for the burly righthander, who surrendered seven runs and nine hits in just 2 2/3 frames of a 10-0 loss to the Texas Rangers on Sunday.

Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau both scored two runs and drove in two for Minnesota, which tied a season high with 16 hits and has won four of its last five contests.

"The offense kind of exploded," said Twins third base coach Scott Ullger, who served as acting manager as Ron Gardenhire is away from the club due to a death in the family. "It's just one game, but it was a team effort, everyone was involved. We swung the bats well tonight."

The Twins broke open the game with a four-run seventh inning against reliever Aquilino Lopez and added three more vs. Denny Bautista in the eighth inning.

A solo home run by Magglio Ordonez off Hernandez in the top of the second accounted for the only run for the Tigers, who had scored 20 over their previous three contests.

"He's an artist," said Tigers manager Jim Leyland, who along with Hernandez helped guide the Florida Marlins to a World Series title in 1997. "Livan pitched very well and doesn't give in. He knows what he wants to do, who he wants to go after, then saves a pitch or two for a special occasion."

After serving up the blast, Hernandez did have a scare in the frame as he loaded the bases with none out before getting out of the jam unscathed.

"Everything worked the way I wanted," Hernandez said of the second inning. "(Jacque Jones) hit the ground ball for a double play, we made the play and we got out of the inning. I was lucky, it was perfect."

Rookie Armando Galarraga (2-1) suffered his first loss in four starts this season, giving up four runs - two earned - six hits and two walks in six innings. The righthander struck out two.

With the game knotted at 1-1 in the bottom of the third, Galarraga walked Mauer on five pitches to force in a run. Carlos Gomez then scored on Morneau's double-play grounder to give the Twins a 3-1 bulge.

Gomez was injured in the fifth, when he was hit in the helmet by the throw of Tigers catcher Ivan Rodriguez during an attempted steal. He had to be carted off the field after remaining on the turf for nearly five minutes, but the 22-year-old never lost consciousness and was deemed healthy by team doctors after being attended to in the clubhouse.

Ahead 4-1, Minnesota scored four runs in the seventh on a solo homer by Brendan Harris, back-to-back RBI doubles by Morneau and Michael Cuddyer and a run-scoring base hit by Delmon Young.