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Hernandez stays unbeaten, Twins KO Royals

Apr 12, 2008 - 5:21 AM By Pat Madden PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- Livan Hernandez pitched seven strong innings and the Minnesota Twins continued their early-season success over the Kansas City Royals in posting a 5-0 victory Friday night.

On a night more suited for football than baseball (42 degrees at game time), Hernandez (3-0) defeated the Royals for the second time in the span of six days.

Hernandez allowed seven hits while striking out a season-high three batters and walking just one. The walk was the first surrendered by Hernandez this season.

"I tried to throw the ball the way I threw before," Hernandez said of his pitching against the Royals. "People were swinging. Good for me. I threw the same way I threw the first time."

"Hernandez was fantastic for us tonight," Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He got us out of a couple of jams."

Matt Tolbert recorded three hits and drove in a run for the Twins (5-5), who downed Kansas City for the third time in four meetings this season. Rookie Carlos Gomez collected two hits and drove in two runs.

Jesse Crain and Joe Nathan each worked an inning in relief for Minnesota.

The Twins got all the runs they would need in the second inning, scoring four off Royals starter Gil Meche (0-2). Gomez's two-run double to left-center was the big hit in the inning.

"He tried to throw me a lot of breaking balls the last time we saw them - cutter, slider, curveball away," Gomez said. "Today he threw me a breaking ball when I was looking for a breaking ball."

Denard Span also recorded his first career RBI in the frame with a single to left-center that scored Delmon Young.

Morneau's third home run of the season into the right field bullpen on the first pitch of the third inning extended the Minnesota advantage to 5-0.

Hernandez, who retired the side in order only once, pitched out of trouble in the fourth and fifth innings.

"He did a good job keeping us off balance," Kansas City manager Trey Hillman said. "We got some baserunners, but we just couldn't get big hits."

After allowing back-to-back singles to Alberto Callaspo and Joey Gathright to lead off the fifth inning, Hernandez struck out Jose Guillen and got Billy Butler to ground out to leave the bases loaded.

"With the power he (Guillen) has, you don't want to miss with a pitch inside," Hernandez said. "I struck him out on a slow curveball. The next guy (Butler) hit a ground ball and I got out of the inning."

"He took a lot off on the last one to Guillen," Gardenhire said. "He's an aggressive hitter. I think he was looking for a breaking pitch."

Meche, who lost to the Twins for the second time this season, allowed five runs on five hits over six innings of work. He also walked four batters and struck out six.

"I'm not up to the starter I want to be," Meche said. "I want to get that one good start under my belt to have something to build off of. I was not making my pitches. Every game I've had one bad inning. I'm not making the pitches I'm capable of pitching, just waiting to turn the corner and get it going."

"He had trouble in spots with his rhythm and tempo, pitching from behind," Hillman said. "It was not typical for Gil."

Alex Gordon had two hits for Kansas City (6-4). Butler also had a hit to extend his hitting streak to 10 games for the Royals, who lost for the second straight night.