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Indians and Twins wrap up set in Minny

Jul 20, 2011 - 2:46 PM (Sports Network) - Cleveland Indians starter Josh Tomlin was hit pretty hard his last time out but aims to stay on the unbeaten path today in the finale of a four-game series with the Minnesota Twins at Target Field.

Tomlin earned a win at Baltimore last Friday in a 6-5 decision and allowed five runs and six hits in five innings for the victory. The effort lifted his mark to 4-0 in his last six starts while pushing his overall ledger to 11-4 in 19 outings with a 4.03 ERA. He has lasted at least five innings in each of his starts this season.

The right-hander, who is 4-3 with a 4.76 ERA in nine starts on the road, lost to Minnesota in his only career appearance on June 6 this season from Progressive Field. He gave up six runs and nine hits over six frames of his team's 6-4 defeat. Opponents are hitting .239 off of Tomlin this season.

Cleveland swept a doubleheader from Minnesota on Monday, but suffered a 2-1 loss last night in the third portion of this series in heart-breaking fashion. Indians All-Star reliever Chris Perez was on the hill in the bottom of the ninth holding a 1-0 lead and allowed a two-run single to Danny Valencia to take the loss. Justin Masterson threw 7 2/3 shutout innings and struck out six in the no-decision.

"I didn't make pitches when I needed to," said Perez. "I feel bad for Masterson. He pitched a hell of a game for us, put us in a position to stomp on their throat and I gave it up."

Asdrubal Cabrera drove in Lou Marson with a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning for the Indians, who are tied with Detroit atop the AL Central standings and lost for the third time in five tries.

Minnesota erased the memories of Monday's twinbill sweep by breaking out the dramatics last night. Joe Mauer and Michael Cuddyer both scored on Valencia's hit in the home half of the ninth for the Twins, who won for the fifth time in eight tries and are 4-3 on a 12-game homestand.

Francisco Liriano threw six innings of one-run ball in the no-decision and Glen Perkins struck out two in the top of the ninth inning for the win.

"Our pitchers did a great job keeping us in the game and giving us a chance to win," said Cuddyer. "That's all you can ask for from those guys and fortunately we were able to scrape a couple across at the end."

Toeing the rubber for the Twins tonight will be Nick Blackburn, who is coming off seven shutout innings of a 2-1 loss versus Kansas City last Friday. He did not record a decision and ended a string of three straight appearances with at least five runs allowed. Blackburn improved to 7-6 in 19 starts and lowered his ERA from 4.24 to 3.99 in the process.

Blackburn is 1-0 in his last three outings and 2-3 in nine starts in the Twin Cities this season. He hasn't faced the Indians this season and is 6-3 with a 2.51 ERA in 13 career games (11 starts) in this series.

The Twins are 17-9 against Cleveland since the start of the 2010 campaign.