• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Diamond pitches Twins past Angels

May 9, 2012 - 3:39 AM Minneapolis, MN (Sports Network) - In his first start of the season, and just his eighth overall in the big leagues, Scott Diamond tossed seven scoreless innings of four-hit ball and the Twins blanked the Angels, 5-0, in the middle test of a three-game series on Tuesday.

Diamond (1-0) fanned six and walked just one batter in the longest outing of his career to earn his second major league victory.

Ryan Doumit belted a two-run homer, while Josh Willingham and Brian Dozier each added two hits, an RBI and a run scored for the Twins, who had lost eight of their previous nine at home.

Dan Haren (1-3) didn't make it out of the fourth, yielding five runs on eight hits and two walks over 3 2/3 innings as the Angels offense mustered just four hits to snap their three-game win streak.

"We tried to work counts and he got ahead of us," said Angels manager Mike Scioscia about Diamond's outing. "When we got into hitting counts, he used off-speed pitches to get back in. He pitched a good game."

The Twins put three runs on the board in their first at-bat when Dozier dropped in a one-out single, moved to second on a groundout and scored on a double from Willingham to make it a 1-0 contest.

Doumit quickly extended the lead to 3-0, lifting Haren's fourth offering over the wall in right field for his fourth of the season.

Minnesota opened the fourth with consecutive singles before both runners moved up on a bunt from Jamey Carroll. Erik Komatsu then plated a run with a sacrifice fly before Dozier made it a 5-0 contest with a soft line drive into right field to signal the end of Haren's day.

"We got some runs early and Diamond took us from there," remarked Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. "That's the way you draw it up. He was in command of the strike zone and more than anything else he located his fastball."

Diamond shut the Halos down from there, retiring 11 straight batters after a Mark Trumbo double in the fourth before being lifted in favor of Jared Burton to start the eighth.

Game Notes

Before tonight, Diamond's longest outing of his career came last year when he went 6 1/3 innings on two different occasions...Haren dropped to 4-4 in 11 career starts against the Twins...The Angels have won five of eight against the Twins this season, with Wednesday's finale serving as their final meeting.