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Tyner takes one for the team, leads Twins to win

Aug 4, 2007 - 11:55 PM By Anthony Maggio PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Another bruise for Jason Tyner led to another victory for the Minnesota Twins.

Tyner was hit by a pitch in the sixth inning and went on to score what proved to be the winning run as the Twins posted a 3-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Saturday.

With the game tied at 2-2, Tyner was hit by Cleveland rookie starter Aaron Laffey (0-1) to lead off the sixth, advanced on a balk and moved to third on a single by Joe Mauer. Michael Cuddyer, who finished with two RBI, plated the go-ahead run with a groundout against Jensen Lewis, who relieved Laffey.

"You're just trying to get on base any way you can," Tyner said. "If they want to give you a free base, you'll definitely take it."

It was the second time in less than a week Tyner helped Minnesota to a win by getting hit by a pitch. On Sunday, Tyner was hit by a pitch to spark a three-run inning that led to a 4-1 win over Cleveland.

"That's not exactly on my stat pack," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "But if you like that stuff, I like it, too."

A big reason for Saturday's triumph was the Twins' bullpen, which held the Indians to just three hits in the final five innings in relief of Matt Garza.

In just the second game since a bridge on the 35W Interstate suddenly collapsed on Wednesday, killing seven and injuring dozens more, the Twins helped put smiles on the faces of the people of Minnesota for one day.

Ramon Ortiz (4-4) pitched two innings of scoreless relief to earn his first win since defeating Seattle on April 17, when he was still a member of the starting rotation. He entered Saturday's contest in the fifth inning in relief of Garza, whose last start coincided with Tyner's aforementioned hit-by-pitch courtesy of C.C. Sabathia.

Garza, who struck out a career-high 11 in his previous outing against the Indians while allowing just one run in six innings, was in trouble in each of the four frames he pitched in this one.

Garza threw 93 pitches but allowed only two runs and six hits while stranding eight baserunners.

"I got lucky," Garza said. "I was able to wiggle out of some tight spots. I loaded the bases in consecutive innings. I threw way too many pitches. I was just trying to battle and keep my team in it."

While Garza was battling, Laffey appeared to be on cruise control.

Making his major league debut, Laffey faced the minimum through 3 1/3 innings. But things quickly unraveled.

Jason Bartlett hit a one-out, ground-rule double, then scored when Josh Barfield failed to make a backhand stop of Mauer's grounder up the middle. Cuddyer followed with a double, plating Mauer and erasing the 2-0 lead the Indians built against Garza.

Laffey surrendered three runs and six hits with a walk and a strikeout in 5 1/3 innings.

"He threw the ball well today," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "He did a great job for his first time out. He gave us every opportunity to win the ballgame. We weren't able to get the hit when we needed to."

Garza stranded Casey Blake in the first inning and two more runners in the second after a hit batsman and a walk. Cleveland finally broke through in the third inning, when Kenny Lofton hit a one-out single and scored on Victor Martinez's two-out double off the baggie in right field.

Travis Hafner was walked intentionally and Ryan Garko was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. But Garza struck out Trot Nixon to get out of the jam.

"We made him work," Wedge said. "We created plenty of opportunities, we just weren't able to finish innings off."

Jhonny Peralta singled and scored in the fourth on Blake's sacrifice fly, but Garza got Martinez to end the inning on a pop-up to second base with runners on the corners.

"I thought it had a chance to get over (right fielder Cuddyer's) head or up off the baggie, but he made a good catch out there," Blake said of his sacrifice fly. "That might have been the one. A single or double there would've made a heck of a difference."

"That was the play of the game," Gardenhire said. "He goes back and keeps us from having those guys spinning the basepaths."

Minnesota's bullpen picked up Garza from there, with Ortiz, Dennys Reyes and Matt Guerrier combining for four scoreless frames and Joe Nathan tossing a perfect ninth to notch his 25th save in 27 chances.

Bartlett and Mauer both finished with two hits for Minnesota, with Bartlett extending his hitting streak to seven games.

Grady Sizemore singled in the fourth inning to extend his hitting streak to 12 games for Cleveland (62-48), which fell into a tie with Detroit (61-47) for first place in the American League Central Division. The Tigers host the Chicago White Sox on Saturday evening.

Nixon and Peralta had two hits apiece for the Indians, who lost for the first time in four games at the Metrodome this season.