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Twins overwhelm Orioles, move into first place in AL Central

Sep 14, 2008 - 5:24 AM By Sean Burns PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- With a chance to pull even in the American League Central Division, the Minnesota Twins wasted little time jumping all over the Baltimore Orioles.

Justin Morneau and Mike Redmond each drove in two runs as the Twins swept a doubleheader and moved into first place in the division with a 12-6 victory over the Orioles in Saturday's nightcap.

Brendan Harris homered for the Twins (82-66), who are tied with the Chicago White Sox (81-65) atop the AL Central. Chicago had both games of a doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers rained out Saturday, while Minnesota posted a 12-2 triumph in the opener of its twinbill.

"We've just got to continue to play hard and grind it out as much as we can," Morneau said. "This was a big thing for us to take. We've just got to keep playing hard now that we're back tied for first.

The first five batters of the game all scored for Minnesota, which wound up chasing Baltimore starter Garrett Olson (9-8) with two outs in the first after Carlos Gomez's two-run double made it 6-0.

"We had a very long night, but it was a great offensive show by this ballclub," Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said. "A lot of guys had great games today ? up and down the lineup. Now, we've just got to focus on coming back in 12 hours and doing it again."

Olson, whose outing was the shortest non injury-shortened start for a pitcher from Baltimore this season, saw seven of the nine batters he faced reach base. He allowed five hits and one walk and hit one batter.

Relief pitching wasn't much better for the Orioles, who saw the Twins tack on four runs in the next three innings, highlighted by a pair of triples by Matt Tolbert. The second baseman scored three times in the first three innings, having walked and scored in the first.

"When you take your starter out in the first inning, that ought to paint the picture pretty well," Baltimore manager Dave Trembley said. "How many trips I have to take out of the dugout? I'm wearing a darn path out from the dugout to the mound."

Unlike the first game of the evening - a 12-2 win for Minnesota - Baltimore was able to answer the challenge, scoring six runs of its own in the first three innings off Twins starter Glen Perkins.

But it never got closer than separate four-run deficits in the first and third innings.

Perkins only lasted three frames himself, yielding five hits and two walks while striking out two. He was pulled in favor of Bobby Korecky (2-0) to start the fourth after Baltimore's Oscar Salazar hit a three-run homer to make it 10-6.

"I give [my players] a lot of credit for how they played," Trembley added. "They had very good at-bats, ran the bases, dove for balls ... getting it back to 10-6.

"I wish we could have done the top of the first over again."

Korecky was awarded the win after working 2 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk.

"We're in a pennant race, so any opportunity to get in there and make a difference, I've got to take advantage of," Korecky said. "The Orioles are a team that battles, so they're exciting to pitch to, but you've got to stay focused."

After those first rocky innings, things settled down for the most part, with Minnesota adding a run in the fourth and another in the seventh on a solo home run by Harris.

Baltimore, which was led by Brian Roberts' three hits, stranded runners in scoring position in four of the final six innings, including leaving the bases loaded in the seventh when pinch hitter Ramon Hernandez struck out swinging.

"The score wasn't close, but this one never felt like it was easy," Gardenhire said. "You know with the offense (Baltimore has), they're able to score. But we were able to hang on."