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Angels send Haren to hill in finale with Twins

Aug 4, 2011 - 2:56 PM (Sports Network) - Angels manager Mike Scioscia appears to have some questions to ponder in regards to his rotation, but he won't have much to worry about tonight if Dan Haren continues his recent surge.

After getting torched by the long ball on Wednesday, Los Angeles turns to Haren tonight in the hopes of recording a series win over the Minnesota Twins at Angels Stadium.

After Los Angeles cruised to a victory in Tuesday's opener, Minnesota broke out the lumber last night and hit five home runs en route to an 11-4 win. Michael Cuddyer went deep twice, including a game-changing grand slam in the fifth inning, and Delmon Young also had a pair of homers to help the Twins snap a three-game slide.

Cuddyer's homer came on a 1-0 offering from Hisanori Takahashi, who replaced Angels starter Joel Pineiro during the at-bat.

"He threw me a changeup and I was waiting for it. I was able to get the good part of the bat on it and hit it out of the park," said Cuddyer, who has a nine-game hit streak. "Tonight was big for all of us."

Jason Kubel added the 99th homer of his career for the Twins.

Peter Bourjos homered and former Twin Torii Hunter hit a two-run single during a four-run third inning for the Angels, who remained one game behind first- place Texas in the American League West.

Pineiro had walked the bases loaded on five pitches before throwing another ball to Cuddyer and getting pulled and his spot in the rotation could now be in question.

"Joel's command was not there," Scioscia said. "We're going to evaluate him [Thursday]. The ball is not coming out of his hand the way we'd like it to."

Command is rarely an issue when Haren is on the mound as the right-hander has issued just 24 walks in 161 2/3 innings this season.

Haren has won five of his past six decisions and has allowed just two runs over his last two outings. After striking out 10 over 7 2/3 innings of a no- decision at Cleveland on July 25, he hurled a complete game at Detroit on Saturday. Haren allowed a run on six hits while going the distance for the third time this year and 14th in his career.

"The key to success against Texas and all the big lineups is keeping the guys off base in front of their big guys. I did that for the most part," said Haren.

The 30-year-old is 11-6 with a 2.89 earned run average this season and won at Minnesota on May 29. He gave up three runs on 10 hits over six innings, improving to 3-3 with a 3.60 ERA lifetime versus the Twins.

Cuddyer is just 4-for-24 in his career off Haren with a homer and eight strikeouts. He does have 12 RBI over his past eight games overall however.

Things could be more wild for Minnesota, who go with Francisco Liriano tonight.

The lefty, though, rebounded from a horrid outing versus Detroit to win at Oakland on Friday. He was tagged for four runs over just 2 1/3 innings versus the Tigers as he battled control issues, but limited the A's to a pair of runs over seven innings of a 9-5 victory.

Liriano, 27, is 7-8 with a 4.67 ERA this season and 1-1 with a 5.11 ERA lifetime versus the Angels.

Anaheim won a three-game set from Minnesota back in May at Target Field, but the Twins have won seven of 11 overall in this series.