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Macri, Twins put strain on Diamondbacks

Jun 21, 2008 - 4:36 AM By Anthony Maggio PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Matt Macri left Friday's game between the Minnesota Twins and the Arizona Diamondbacks early, but did plenty of damage in his short appearance - some to himself, most to the Diamondbacks.

Macri's two-run single led to a strained left calf muscle for him and a six-run third inning against Arizona starter Randy Johnson as the Twins went on to beat Arizona, 7-2, at the Metrodome.

The rookie third baseman is listed as day-to-day and after the game said he felt better. His sense of humor was certainly in good shape.

"Pretty good little slider (Johnson's) got," Macri said.

The No. 2 pitcher on the all-time strikeout list, Johnson finished with a brutal box score, but he threw a complete game and had plenty of bad breaks in the decisive third frame.

The lefthander was saddled with his fourth straight loss as the Diamondbacks fell for the fourth time in their last six contests both overall and on the road. Johnson (4-5) allowed seven earned runs for the second consecutive outing on a season-worst 11 hits with two walks and a strikeout.

After going 4-1 with a 3.83 ERA his first nine starts of the season, Johnson has a 7.77 ERA in his last four starts.

"The last four games I've pitched have been extremely frustrating," Johnson said. "I feel good, it's just frustrating because in all those games it's essentially been one inning. Today it was a big one inning that took any kind of momentum we may have had."

Minnesota's second six-run inning in the last three days helped make a winner of Scott Baker (3-2), who needed 112 pitches to get through six innings but continually pitched his way out of trouble.

"I wasn't too sharp tonight," Baker said. "I just made some pitches when I needed to. I gave up some base hits when I had a chance to get out of innings quickly, kind of prolonged some of the innings."

The Twins' offense prolonged the third inning, which started with Delmon Young's grounder down the third base line that Mark Reynolds fielded deep in the infield but threw into Young's back as he touched first for a single. Brendan Harris followed with a double off the baggie in right field, leading to Macri's at-bat.

With shortstop Stephen Drew playing much closer to third base than second, Macri was able to hit a full-count pitch up the middle to score both runs. Macri strained his calf running to first base - re-aggravating a pulled muscle that kept him out nearly three weeks in April and May while with Class AAA Rochester.

Following Alexi Casilla's bunt single two batters later, Joe Mauer added a sacrifice fly to score Macri. Casilla came home on Justin Morneau's RBI single the next at-bat.

Johnson's next pitch to Craig Monroe landed in the left-center field seats for a two-run homer.

"Where we were playing, just kind of got some hits away from our defense up the middle," Arizona manager Bob Melvin said. "A lot of times with Randy, we're playing the hole and they found some balls up the middle. He missed his location to Monroe for the home run but other than that, to be able to finish a game like that, is pretty impressive to keep your resolve and focus."

Monroe's home run snapped an 0-for-14 slump.

"He's been working so stinkin' hard in (batting practice) and trying to get it situated and get his swing down and make adjustments," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "That was a big hit for us."

Harris singled in the fourth inning and scored on Carlos Gomez's RBI double to give the Twins a 7-0 advantage.

Reynolds' home run in the sixth ruined Minnesota's shutout bid, and he added an RBI groundout to score Orlando Hudson in the eighth inning for Arizona's only other run -- an unearned tally off Twins reliever Brian Bass.

Baker allowed a run on seven hits with no walks and seven strikeouts to win for the first time in his last eight starts dating to April 9 - his second start of the season. Minnesota starters have won four straight games for the first time since August 22-26, 2007, when Baker was one of five Twins starters to win consecutive contests.

Hudson picked up his sixth three-hit game of the season in the loss.

Young, Gomez and Casilla had two hits each for the Twins, which crept to within 3 1/2 games of AL Central Division-leading Chicago White Sox.