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Twins shoot for series win vs. Mariners

May 25, 2011 - 3:03 PM (Sports Network) - After halting a four-game slide with a victory on Tuesday, the Minnesota Twins eye a series victory over the Seattle Mariners this afternoon in the finale of a three-game series at Target Field.

After being bested in extra innings on Monday for their 13th loss in 16 games, the Twins rode the arm of Nick Blackburn and the bat of Denard Span to a 4-2 victory last night. Blackburn hurled his fifth career complete game to even his season record at 4-4, while Span had three hits and drove in a run with an RBI double during a two-run seventh inning that put Minnesota ahead for good.

Alexi Casilla had two hits and scored twice while Jason Kubel added two hits and an RBI for the Twins, who beat the Mariners for the seventh time in the past 10 meetings.

"It felt good out there tonight," said Kubel. "I made some plays, the other guys made some plays and we got the win. We didn't score a bunch of runs, but we scored enough to win and that's all that counts."

Miguel Olivo hit a game-tying two-run homer in the fourth inning for Seattle, but starter Doug Fister balked in the go-ahead run in the seventh before giving up Span's run-scoring hit.

Seattle had a season-best six-game winning streak come to an end.

"Their guy was throwing really strong tonight," said Seattle shortstop Brendan Ryan, who went 3-for-3 in the game. "I mean, all my hits were cheap and for the most part he was pounding the zone and getting us out."

The Mariners like what they are getting from Erik Bedard as of late and hope that the left-hander can extend his four-start unbeaten streak today.

Bedard, who has battled multiple shoulder injuries over the past few seasons, is 2-0 with a 1.33 earned run average over his surge after beginning the season 0-4 with a 7.71 ERA. He posted his longest outing of the season last time out, hurling eight shutout innings in a win over San Diego on Friday. He scattered three hits and two walks while striking out nine.

"I felt fresh. I just tried not to get too pumped up," said Bedard, who lowered his ERA to a season-low 3.94.

The 32-year-old has had limited success in his career when facing the Twins, going 1-5 with a 4.68 ERA in 10 starts.

Taking the hill for the Twins will be Brian Duensing, who is winless in his last five appearances. The left-hander is 0-4 with a 7.65 ERA in that span, which includes four starts and one relief outing.

Duensing picked up a loss in Arizona on Friday, getting charged with five runs on seven hits over six-plus innings of work. The 28-year-old fell to 2-4 with a 4.98 ERA in nine games this season, all but one of those starts.

Duensing will be making his first career start against the Mariners after facing them once before in relief.