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Streaking Twins use big inning to down Indians

Jul 6, 2008 - 3:51 AM By Anthony Maggio PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- It takes a lot to rattle the Minnesota Twins these days.

Winners of 12 of 14 entering Saturday's game against the Cleveland Indians, the Twins shrugged off a five-run Cleveland second inning, chipped away at starter Aaron Laffey, and used a five-run sixth frame against the Indians' bullpen to come away with a 9-6 victory at the Metrodome.

Alexi Casilla, Brendan Harris and Craig Monroe each drove in a pair of runs and Kevin Slowey won for the fourth time in five starts to give Minnesota its fourth consecutive victory.

"It seemed like the mood in the dugout, everyone was still calm, no one was hanging their heads," outfielder Denard Span said. "For some reason, everybody knew. We've been playing good. Everyone knew that something good was going to happen."

All it took was a minor mechanical adjustment from Slowey (6-6), who entered the contest 3-0 with an 0.93 ERA in his last four outings but gave up five runs - including Grady Sizemore's three-run homer - in the second inning.

"I think that really for me is one of the problems when I'm throwing is I try to overthrow it a little bit and kind of jump toward the plate," Slowey said. "So I looked at the video and sure enough I was kind of flying open toward the plate, the stuff that (pitching coach Rick Anderson) and Joe (Mauer) notice very quickly and try to make that adjustment the next time out."

Slowey retired the next 13 batters he faced following Sizemore's 100th career home run, opening the door for Minnesota's offense.

"He's a smart kid," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said of Slowey. "He went in and looked at video too, and knows where he's at.

"He made the adjustment and gave us really good innings after that. We needed those innings. He gave us a chance."

Span built off Monroe's two-out, two-RBI first-inning double with an RBI single in the fourth inning, and Mauer cut the deficit to one with a fifth-inning leadoff homer off of Laffey. The lefthander didn't come back out of the dugout after allowing four runs on five hits with four walks in five innings.

"I've seen it the last two times out, my command's been terrible," Laffey said. "Walking guys, hitting a batter, That's just not going to get it done. I didn't deserve to win that game tonight."

Tom Mastny (0-2) certainly deserved the loss. The righthander replaced Laffey in the sixth but retired only the first batter he faced - ultimately allowing four runs on two hits with two walks before Rafael Perez was summoned from the bullpen.

Perez didn't fare much better, giving up a run on a hit and two walks before escaping the sixth frame.

"The walks," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "The walks are what's killing us right now."

Casilla's hit off Mastny was the big blow - a two-RBI double that scored Span and Gomez following a walk from the former and a bunt single from the latter. After two more walks and a run scored off a wild pitch, Harris drilled a two-out, two-RBI single.

Casilla returned to the lineup after a one-game absence due to a sore finger to make a highlight-reel defensive play in the second inning that saved a run and also came up with another big hit.

"Our trainers got the game ball tonight for getting Lexi back on the field tonight," Gardenhire said. "That's how happy we are."

Jamey Carroll hit an RBI double off Boof Bonser in the seventh inning, but Matt Guerrier pitched a perfect eighth inning and Joe Nathan pitched around a two-out double for his 24th save in 26 chances in the ninth.

David Dellucci and Andy Marte both drove in runs in the second inning for the Indians - Marte's first RBI of the season. Cleveland has lost six consecutive road games and a season-high tying seven overall.

"We gotta keep trying to break through," Wedge said. "Like we talked about the last couple days, we're going to have young pitchers who are going to get opportunities like we've seen the last couple days. I'm just hopeful that they'll get more comfortable in those situations with those opportunities and they settle down and pitch."

Mauer scored three runs, Casilla extended his hitting streak to 12 games and Span set a career high with a seven-game hitting streak for Minnesota.