MINNEAPOLIS (WCC0) – While most fans protect themselves from rain by a thin poncho, Target Field uses a little more sophisticated technology.

While water just runs off into the sewer system at most stadiums, Target Field employs the Rain Water Recycle System – designed by Minneapolis-based water solutions company Pentair.

Kevin Smith, Executive Director of Public Relations for the Twins, is proud of his stadium’s distinction.

“What better way to be a leader in sustainability and lead by example with using water as your example,” said Smith

When it rains, a porous field acts as the first line of defense. The first of the multiple layers is grass, the second is sand, and the third is rocks. Underneath it all is a complex drainage system that covers this entire field.

“You’ll go out there, half hour after a rain storm and it’s like it never happened,” said Smith.

And then the water takes its most interesting turn.

“What happens with that dirty water is then funneled through the Pentair filtration system, cleaned and cleaned…It goes from dark gray and gross, to being perfectly clean,” he said.

According to Smith, a large portion of the water is recycled in the ball park for watering the grass and cleaning the lower levels.

It’s not only a green solution, but one that allows the game to resume quickly.

“You’ll go out there half hour after a rain storm and it’s like it never happened,” he said.

Target Field has the first and only underground filtration system in America, saving more than 2 million gallons of water each year.

Nobody at Target Field was cheering louder at the end than his teammates.

Justin Morneau’s tying double in the eighth inning set up Capps for another dramatic save in the ninth, and the Twins rallied past Oakland for a 5-4 victory on Monday, a season-high sixth straight loss for the Athletics.

“There’s not a bigger competitor on this team than Capps, and no one wants to win more. There’s not a better teammate, either. When he has a game like this we’re all cheering for him, and when he has a game like yesterday we all feel for him,” said designated hitter Ryan Doumit, who drove in the go-ahead run off previously perfect reliever Ryan Cook (1-1) with a sacrifice fly after Morneau’s bloop down the line.

Capps bounced back from his first blown attempt of the season the day before — on a two-run homer by Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera — by striking out Jonny Gomes with the bases loaded to notch his 10th save and help the Twins stop their own five-game losing streak.

“I don’t blame people for booing. They expect us to do a job, and I’m no different from the 24 other guys in here,” Capps said.

Don’t assume he feels fine about that, though.

“I wouldn’t be human if I didn’t feel something. Nobody likes that, especially in their home ballpark,” Capps said, adding: “No matter what the fans think, this organization still expects it out of me, and I’ve got to go out and do it.”

Colin Cowgill reached on a fielding error by second baseman Alexi Casilla, who let a slow roller slide right under his glove to make the inning more challenging for Capps. Jemile Weeks walked with one out. The runners moved up on a line drive by Coco Crisp that Capps dropped but picked up and threw over for the second out. Josh Reddick, who homered and tripled earlier, was intentionally walked to load the bases.

But Capps blew a 94-mph fastball by Gomes to end that at-bat on three pitches.

“We feel comfortable with him on the mound. He’s a guy with guts,” Morneau said, adding about the booing: “It’s disappointing to see that sometimes, but obviously people’s expectations are high, just as ours are.”

Alex Burnett (2-0) gave up an RBI single to Kurt Suzuki in the eighth that put the A’s in front 4-3 after Jeff Gray walked back-to-back batters with one out, but Kila Ka’aihue grounded into a double play, the fourth of the game for the A’s. Then the Twins rallied with rare success against Cook (1-1), who entered the game without a run and just four hits allowed in 23 innings this year.

Joe Mauer hustled for an infield single and stole second base to spark the rally. Josh Willingham followed with a walk and scored on Doumit’s deep-enough fly.

“We definitely wanted to give him an ERA, I guess,” Willingham said.

Said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire: “Everybody should have stats, and he had none.”

Cook was naturally disappointed.

“You’re going to give up runs in this game. It isn’t a secret to anybody. It’s just unfortunate that I gave them up today,” he said.

Travis Blackley made his first major league start in nearly five years, giving up just one run, three hits and one walk while striking out three in five innings for the A’s. Trevor Plouffe homered in the fifth for the Twins, and Willingham’s double off Jordan Norberto in the sixth following back-to-back walks cut the lead to 3-2.

“For a guy that’s been a one-inning reliever here for the last couple of months, to give us five innings and leave with the lead was tremendous,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said.

Then Morneau tied the game with a sacrifice fly to keep starter Scott Diamond from taking the loss. The lefty struck out four with one walk, nine hits and three runs across in 6 1-3 innings.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

For teams having seasons like the Twins, it’s a time to start evaluating the roster for trade possibilities with which they can begin to restock with young talent. For teams having seasons like the Tigers, it’s a time to figure out why they’ve underachieved and what pieces need to be added in order to reach the lofty goals they’d set coming out of spring training.

But as we all know, Memorial Day is about a lot more than just baseball. Tracing its origins to the “Decoration Day” of the post-Civil War era, Memorial Day was established to honor the men and women who’ve lost their lives in the service of their country’s military. For many of us, it’s grown to become a holiday on which we honor the memory of all those who served, whether they died in service or not.

Baseball has a long tradition of honoring the men and women of the armed forces, including some of the men who’ve played the grand old game.

There are the famous names: Ted Williams served as a naval aviator in both WWII & the Korean War; Joe DiMaggio served in the Army Air Force during WWII; Johnny Pesky was an Ensign in the Navy; and Bob Feller enlisted in the Navy on December 12, 1941, the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Here in Minnesota, Ron Gardenhire was born to First Sergeant Clyde Gardenhire as he served on an Army base in Germany, and Hall of Famer Rod Carew — thankfully still with us — served in the Marine reserves for six years.

But go back a little further and you can find even more compelling stories with ties to the Washington Senators, who would go on to become the Minnesota Twins.

Elmer Gedeon was born in Cleveland in 1917. He went to the University of Michigan where he excelled at several sports, especially track. But baseball was his passion, and he signed with the Senators as an outfielder after graduating in 1939.

He joined the big club in September of that season, appearing in five games, collecting three hits, and knocking in one run. Little did he know that would be his only taste of the Major Leagues.

Gedeon spent the 1940 season knocking around the minors, and was expected to do so again in 1941, but was instead summoned to serve in the Army Air Corps.

In April of 1944, Elmer was the pilot of a B-26 Marauder which was one of 30 planes to leave Boreham Airfield in England to bomb German construction works at Bois d’Esquerdes. Gedeon’s plane never returned. As it reached the target, it was lit up by search lights and pummeled by enemy flak, including a fateful burst which struck just under the cockpit. Elmer, along with all but one member of his crew, was killed in the resulting crash.

Elmer Gedeon’s remains now reside amongst the heroes in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

Pitcher James Trimble never made it to the big leagues.

Born in Bethesda, Maryland, in 1926, he was a star athlete in high school. Trimble caught the eye of Senators owner Clark Griffith who invited him to a try out during his senior year in 1943. Griffith would have signed the right-handed hurler on the spot, but Trimble’s mother insisted that he finish high school first. So instead, Griffith gave him a $5000 signing bonus and the promise of a roster spot after he finished college at Duke University.

In early 1944, however, Trimble heard the call to serve and enlisted in the Marines. In July of that year, he joined the Third Marine Division in their action on Guam. In February of 1945, the Third Division left Guam for action on a small island 750 miles south of Tokyo, known as Iwo Jima.

As the Third Division landed, they came under heavy rocket fire from Japanese forces. Trimble was one of eight Marines who volunteered to search out and destroy the Japanese troops firing those rockets. As they rested in their foxholes, those Marines came under attack. A Japanese soldier with a mine strapped to his body, jumped into Trimble’s foxhole, detonating his ordinance and killing the private instantly.

Trimble now rests in Rock Creek cemetery in Washington, D.C.

Those are the stories of just two of 40 Senators major- and minor-leaguers who served in the armed forces in WWII. The annals of baseball history are filled with hundreds more stories of heroism and valor.

So it’s only appropriate that baseball, the Minnesota Twins, and all of us pause on this special holiday to tip our caps in remembrance of those who gave the “last full measure of devotion” so that we might be able to enjoy our freedom, the beginning of summer and the wonderful sport of baseball!

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — It wasn’t the game of baseball being played at Target Field before today’s Twins Game. Instead, an 8-year-old from Lino Lakes with Leukemia asked if he could play video games. That wish – and much more — came true.

Fans at Target Field had a new player to root for Friday. The cameras weren’t there for Joe Mauer, but for Grant Albin.

“It definitely is a dream come true for him as far as what he went through and is continuing to have to deal with,” said Albin’s father, Rob.

That dream, started with a simple act.

“He wrote a letter to Joe Mauer. His wish was to play a video game with Joe,” said Rob.

With the help of the Make a wish foundation, Mauer wrote back.

“(He wrote) that he’d love to play video games with me,” said Grant.

As if it wasn’t enough to play with his hero, Grant played the video games with Mauer on Target Field’s 5800 square foot JumboTron.

“I think he may be a little overwhelmed with everything that’s going on,” said Mauer.

But Grant might need to get used to the attention, he plans to become a baseball player.

Grant is such a big baseball fan that his original wish was for all the baseball cards in the world, but his mom said their house wasn’t big enough. To see the entire letter, click here.

Team spokesman Kevin Smith said they had typical number of medical calls, but nothing out of the ordinary.

“Our operations department also put out the swamp coolers, which are big fans, like outdoor air conditioners, military-style, like they use in war zones. We had four of those out there,” said Smith.

NewsRadio 830 WCCO’s Susie Jones Reports

Smith said they also handed out sunscreen and had water stations set up.

“Our operations department did what they could to temper the heat,” he said.

Smith says they play Oakland Monday, when the temperatures will be about 30 degrees cooler.

But Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder have been steadily slugging them back, and the big guys sure had their swings in shape this series.

Cabrera’s two-run homer with one out in the ninth inning lifted the Tigers to a 4-3 victory over the Twins on Sunday, making up for 10 men left on base.

“I was having nightmares during that game, because we’re just leaving those guys on out there,” manager Jim Leyland said.

His afternoon had a happy ending. Cabrera crushed an 0-2 pitch to center field from Matt Capps (0-3), who took his first blown save in 10 tries, after rookie Quintin Berry started the inning with a single.

Capps threw an off-speed outside pitch to Cabrera on Friday night with a 0-2 count, and Cabrera singled to the opposite field. This time, the closer fired his fastball inside and watched Cabrera hit the ball over the wall.

“You’ve got to be ready for anything,” Cabrera said.

All-Star right-hander Justin Verlander hit a long home run during batting practice, so Leyland said he jokingly yelled at Cabrera to try to do the same during his dramatic at-bat.

“Boom. Next pitch,” Leyland said. “It was funny.”

Jose Valverde followed for his ninth save in 11 attempts. Denard Span led off with a single. After Ben Revere popped his bunt up for the first out, Joe Mauer hit a hard line out to left. Then after Span stole second, Josh Willingham walked. But Justin Morneau flied out to right.

Brayan Villarreal (1-1) recorded two outs in the eighth for the victory.

Fielder had two more hits and went 9 for 12 in the series plus two walks for the Tigers, who have won 21 of their last 27 games against the Twins. Cabrera raised his career average at Minnesota’s 2½-year-old ballpark to .408, including nine doubles, four homers and 18 RBIs.

“We’re here to win games, not here for personal numbers,” Cabrera said. “If you think about that, you put pressure on yourself.”

Said starter Rick Porcello: “A clutch home run like that, late in the game, to put us ahead: That’s why he’s our guy.”

Alexi Casilla went 3 for 3 for the Twins, including an RBI single against Porcello in the fourth. Mauer had two hits, tying the game at 2 with a double in the fifth. Willingham singled him in to give the Twins the lead.

Porcello lasted six innings, allowing nine hits, three runs and three walks with only one strikeout. He hasn’t won in four starts, but this was a much better performance. He took a sharp drive by Mauer off his leg but managed to stay on his feet and throw for the out before hobbling around in pain in the third.

“That’s all I’m looking to come out there and do: Keep us in the game and try to pitch as deep as I can. In that way, it was a good outing,” Porcello said. “Obviously I’ve got to continue to work on putting it all together, but it’s a good win for us.”

Twins starter P.J. Walters gave up seven hits and four walks, both highs over four appearances since being brought up from Triple-A less than three weeks ago. But he finished six innings with only two first-inning runs allowed and struck out four.

After a ray-of-hope, four-game winning streak on the road that included a two-game sweep of the Tigers in Detroit, the Twins have lost five in a row.

“One of those losses that knocks the wind out of your sails,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said.

WCCO Radio Audio:
Ron Gardenhie Post-Game Press Conference

NOTES: Berry, who made his major league debut earlier this week when CF Austin Jackson strained an abdominal muscle, has at least one hit in each of his five games. He’s 8 for 21. … The Twins start a three-game series with Oakland on Monday in a holiday matinee. LH Scott Diamond (3-1, 1.78 ERA) takes the mound for the Twins, and LH Travis Blackley (0-0, 0.00) will make his first start of the season for the A’s. … The Tigers send RH Doug Fister (0-2, 1.84) to the mound on Monday in Boston. LH Felix Doubront (4-2, 3.96) starts for the Red Sox. … The Twins had two moving moments on the field before the game. Mauer hosted an 8-year-old boy named Grant with leukemia as part of the Make-A-Wish program, competing with him in the video game “MLB 11: The Show” with the action shown on the scoreboard above left field. Then Robert Buresh, a Minnesota Air National Guard master sergeant just returned from Afghanistan, surprised his daughters in front of home plate as they ran around the bases in a promotional contest.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Manship joined the team in time for Sunday’s game against the Detroit Tigers. The Twins designed reserve outfielder Erik Komatsu for release or assignment to make room on the roster.

Manship is the eighth player summoned from Rochester already this season, seven of whom weren’t with the Twins on opening day. Manship was 4-1 with a 3.08 ERA, 15 walks and 25 strikeouts in 38 innings for the Red Wings. He made 12 appearances, including four starts.

“We need pitching. Our bullpen’s depleted, and we have to protect ourselves,” manager Ron Gardenhire said before the game.

Manship will be available as a long reliever, but Gardenhire said he “won’t say never” when asked whether the 27-year-old will be considered for the rotation. The group currently comprises veteran Carl Pavano, Rochester call-ups Scott Diamond, P.J. Walters and Cole De Vries plus struggling left-hander Francisco Liriano.

Twins starters had an unsightly 6.60 ERA entering Sunday’s game, the worst in the majors and more than a full run higher than the next-closest team. Liriano was removed from the rotation earlier this month but will start again Wednesday, essentially because the Twins have no other options. Pavano has been bothered by a sore right shoulder. Nick Blackburn is on a rehabilitation assignment for a full week before he will return from a strained left quadriceps muscle.

Komatsu was claimed off waivers earlier this month. He played in 15 games but had only 32 at-bats, collecting seven hits and driving in one run. He’s the second reserve outfielder the Twins added via the waiver wire and gave up on after a few weeks. Clete Thomas was the first.

Damon Mastroianni, another little-used backup outfielder, survived the cut despite even less production in his limited action. Gardenhire said the Twins want to keep Mastroianni for his versatility and pinch-running ability.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Desperate for some stability in his starting five, manager Ron Gardenhire announced on Saturday that Liriano would return to the rotation for a start against the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday. He simply doesn’t have any other options.

Carl Pavano became the latest Twins starter to make an early exit, lasting just 4 1/3 innings in a 6-3 loss to the Detroit Tigers.

Pavano (2-4) gave up six runs on 10 hits with two strikeouts, and the Twins bullpen was taxed heavily again.

“I don’t think it’s been about run production for us,” Gardenhire said after they lost their fourth straight game. “I think it’s about pitching and getting behind in games and it limiting what you can do. We have to do better with our pitching. We all know that.”

Ideally, that’s where Liriano comes in. The left-hander has the most electric stuff on the staff, but has been unable to harness it for the better part of two years. He was moved to the bullpen on May 9 after starting the season 0-4 with a 9.45 ERA.

Liriano made five relief appearances, allowing four earned runs in 7 1/3 innings.

“I’m looking forward to starting. I’ve always been a starter and that’s what I want to do,” said Liriano, who will become a free agent after this season. “I’m very happy and just looking forward to trying to do my job, get better and everything.”

Justin Morneau and Denard Span homered for the Twins, but they squandered a chance to get back in the game after a 42-minute rain delay in the sixth inning. The game resumed with runners on the corners and one out, and Tigers starter Max Scherzer out of the game.

Josh Willingham struck out for the third time in the game and Morneau popped out to third base to end the inning.

Willingham had four of the team’s 16 strikeouts in the game. The bottom four in the order — Brian Dozier, Alexi Casilla, Drew Butera and Jamey Carroll — went 1 for 14 with 10 strikeouts.

The Tigers jumped on Pavano in the first, getting an RBI-double from Miguel Cabrera and an RBI-single from Prince Fielder to take a quick 2-0 lead. The veteran right-hander, who has been pitching through some soreness in his shoulder, seemed to steady himself in the next three innings, allowing only one hit.

But the powerful Tigers put together six straight hits during their four-run fifth, with Andy Dirks delivering a two-run double and Cabrera an RBI-single to make it 6-2.

In his last four starts, Pavano is 0-2 with a 7.08 ERA.

“Regardless (of) what I’m dealing with physically, I know I can pitch better than I am and I need to do that,” Pavano. “This is a game where they needed me to step up and shut them down and keep the bullpen out of it as much as I could and I wasn’t able to do that.”

The injuries and ineffectiveness have forced Gardenhire to use nine starting pitchers this season, and the group had an ERA of 6.49 when the day began, by far the worst in the majors. Anthony Swarzak has bounced back and forth between long relief and a starting, and was tagged for six earned runs in 3 2/3 innings Friday night, leaving Gardenhire with little choice other than to give Liriano another shot.

“We can’t just keep bouncing around from guy to guy to guy to guy,” Gardenhire said. “We just need Frankie. We said we were going to give him a few shots out of the bullpen, let him calm down a little bit. Now we’ll put him back out there and see if we got that pitcher going.”

Liriano said he’s ready for the challenge.

“Mentally and physically, I’m fine,” Liriano said. “I’ve always stayed positive. I didn’t lose my confidence at all. Just looking for ways to do my job and get better.”

If Liriano can get going, it could help the Twins in two ways. First, they need him to harness his talent, which can be overpowering at times, to give them a reliable starter every fifth day. If he can do that, his trade value also would increase as the season wears on and contenders look to add pitching to get them over the hump.

“He’s healthy. We know that,” Gardenhire said. “It’s all we can hope for is him to go out there. We’re running through the gamut here of pitching. We need Liriano in the rotation. We need that arm in the rotation.”

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Scherzer (4-3) gave up three runs and six hits in 5 1-3 innings before leaving due to a rain delay and Andy Dirks had two doubles and two RBIs for the Tigers. Miguel Cabrera added two hits and two RBIs and Jose Valverde picked up his eighth save in 10 chances.

Carl Pavano (2-4) allowed six runs on 10 hits in 4 1-3 innings for the Twins, who have lost four straight. Justin Morneau and Denard Span homered for Minnesota, but the Twins struck out 16 times.

Slumping Twins slugger Josh Willingham struck out four times and the bottom four hitters in the lineup — Brian Dozier, Alexi Casilla, Drew Butera and Jamey Carroll — went 1 for 14 with 10 strikeouts.

Most of those strikeouts came courtesy of Scherzer, who is looking more and more like the capable sidekick to Justin Verlander he was last year. He fanned four in a row and five of six at one point in the outing, and set down 13 straight after giving up a solo homer to Morneau in the second inning.

The right-hander gave up seven runs in 2 2-3 innings in his first start of the season and has been trying to dig out of that hole ever since. He was tagged for five runs in a win over the White Sox on May 15, but has chewed up two struggling offenses in his last two starts.

Scherzer struck out 15 in a win over the Pirates last week, the most by a Tigers pitcher since Mickey Lolich in 1972. He fanned nine more on Saturday, getting Dozier and Butera twice each before a couple of hits, and a lot of rain, brought an end to his day in the sixth inning.

The game started 20 minutes behind schedule because of weather, and was delayed another 42 minutes in the sixth inning when a heavy downpour pelted Target Field.

Octavio Dotel took the mound after the delay and wiggled out of a runners-on-the-corners, one-out jam by striking out Willingham and getting Morneau to pop out to third base.

The Tigers jumped on Pavano in the first, getting an RBI double from Cabrera and an RBI single from Fielder to take a quick 2-0 lead. The veteran right-hander, who has been pitching through some soreness in his shoulder, seemed to steady himself in the next three innings, allowing only one hit.

But the powerful Tigers put together six straight hits during their four-run fifth, with Dirks delivering a two-run double and Cabrera an RBI single to make it 6-2.

Span homered in the sixth, and the Twins had the tying runner at the plate with one out in the eighth. But Joaquin Benoit struck out Joe Mauer and Willingham to keep the Tigers comfortably in front.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Francisco Liriano is getting another shot in the Minnesota Twins’ muddled starting rotation.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire announced Saturday that the left-hander is moving out of the bullpen and will start Wednesday against Oakland. Liriano was demoted to the bullpen May 9 after going 0-5 with a 9.45 ERA in six starts.

The Twins are hoping Liriano’s time in the bullpen helped him to clear his head. They need the lefty in the rotation to take the place of Anthony Swarzak, who gave up six runs in 3 2-3 innings Friday night against Detroit.

Liriano says he feels good mentally and physically and is eager to be a starter again. He allowed four earned runs in 7 1-3 innings during five relief appearances.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Alex Avila drove in three runs on two doubles, Drew Smyly (2-1) gave up four runs — three earned — on six hits in five innings and Brennan Boesch added three hits and two RBIs for the Tigers, who bounced back from a three-game sweep at the hands of AL Central-leading Cleveland.

Denard Span had three hits for the Twins, who got another poor outing from their starting pitcher. Anthony Swarzak (0-4) gave up six runs on nine hits in 3 2-3 innings in his first start since April 19.

Delmon Young had three hits and an RBI against his former team and the Tigers pounded out 16 hits.

One of the busiest men on the field was first base umpire Alan Porter, who had several bang-bang plays at the bag throughout the game.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland and Twins manager Ron Gardenhire both argued with him early in the game, and Porter tossed Twins third baseman Jamey Carroll in the eighth after calling him out on a close play. Gardenhire came out to defend Carroll and got ejected himself, and the manager tossed his hat as he left the field.

Ron Gardenhire Interview

Jamey Carroll Interview

After signing Fielder to a nine-year, $214 million deal in the offseason, offense figured to be the least of the Tigers’ problems in 2012. But they entered the day just 17th in the majors in runs scored and managed just six runs total in being swept by the Indians.

Avila entered hitting .225, Young was hitting .248 with just two homers, and Fielder was at a pedestrian .286 with seven homers.

Leyland said before the game that he was up late on Thursday night trying to think of ways he could shuffle the lineup to give his team a spark before coming to a realization.

“Why am I busting my brain to figure out who I can juggle or put in there?” Leyland said. “That’s really not the answer. This lineup is our team. This is who we’re going with.”

The faith in his team paid off on Friday night.

Fielder and Young led off the second with singles and Boesch and Avila delivered RBI doubles in Detroit’s four-run second inning.

The pair came through again in the fourth, with Boesch leading off with a double and Avila doubling him home for a 5-2 lead. Ryan Raburn added an RBI-single to make it 6-2 and chase Swarzak.

Fielder’s double in the fifth off of lefty Francisco Liriano made it 7-2, but nothing has come easy for the Tigers this season and it certainly wasn’t going to start at Target Field.

The Tigers’ poor defense struck again in the first, when shortstop Jhonny Peralta’s throw pulled Fielder off the bag to prevent what should have been a routine double play. Brian Dozier followed with a bases-loaded double to get the Twins on the board 2-0.

The sixth inning was even worse. Right-hander Brayan Villarreal had two throwing errors, one that squandered a double play chance and another that allowed Trevor Plouffe to move into scoring position. He scored on a single to center by Carroll to make it 7-5, but only after Quintin Berry’s throw home hit the pitching mound.

But the Tigers put up three more in the seventh, with Fielder delivering an RBI single and Young coming through with an RBI-double to help pad the lead to 10-5.

NOTES: Leyland said OF Austin Jackson (abdominal strain) had an MRI that came back clean and he could accompany the team to Boston next week. Jackson likely would do some baseball activities during the four-game series to ramp up for a possible activation on June 1 for the Yankees series. … Miguel Cabrera stole his second base of the season in the fifth. … Carl Pavano (2-3, 4.91) takes the mound for the Twins on Saturday against Max Scherzer (3-3, 5.79). Pavano has been pitching through some discomfort in his shoulder, but said it’s been feeling better of late. Scherzer got off to a dreadful start this season, but struck out 15 in his last outing, a win over Pittsburgh.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

De Aza capped a six-run sixth with a grand slam after Paul Konerko and Alex Rios started the inning with back-to-back homers, leading the Chicago White Sox to an 11-8 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday night.

A.J. Pierzynski and Dayan Viciedo also went deep as the White Sox won for the sixth time in seven games.

“It’s one night, but just the way they’re swinging it, you could see it sort of coming over the weekend,” manager Robin Ventura said. “Just the intensity and the quality of at-bats that we were having, that’s the thing that keeps it going is everyone continues to do that and grind out at-bats. That’s what they were doing tonight. They were late in the counts and still putting on good swings.”

Konerko had two hits and drove in two runs. Rios also had two hits and knocked in three, and Chicago pulled this one out even though Philip Humber couldn’t protect an early 4-1 lead.

The Twins knocked him out during a four-run fifth, sending 10 batters to the plate. Joe Mauer homered in the inning and Brian Dozier capped the rally with a two-run single to give Minnesota a 5-4 lead, but the debuting Cole De Vries couldn’t hold it.

Konerko and Rios chased him with back-to-back homers to left leading off the sixth, putting Chicago back on top, and the White Sox kept pouring it on from there.

They loaded the bases with one out against Brian Duensing before De Aza, who had an earlier homer wiped out by instant replay, drove a 1-0 pitch over the right-field bullpen to make it 10-5. The grand slam was the first of his career and the first by the White Sox since Rios hit one against Cleveland on Sept. 10, 2011.

“I was trying to get a fly ball because it was bases loaded,” De Aza said. “And the fly ball got big, you know.”

The big rally made a winner of Nate Jones (2-0), who allowed two hits over 1 2-3 innings. He came in for Humber in the fifth and immediately gave up that two-run single by Dozier, but the White Sox came out on top, anyway.

They had their way with De Vries (0-1), who grew up near Minneapolis and played for the University of Minnesota.

“I was pretty good in the bullpen,” he said. “I got out there and it was like someone flipped the light switch and the butterflies started going a little bit. After that, it dropped, then went back up. It was a rollercoaster night.”

The 27-year-old right-hander gave up six runs — three earned — and six hits.

He was shaky right from the start. Pierzynski drove a solo homer off the right-field pole in the second and the White Sox added to their lead in the third after Alexi Casilla booted De Aza’s grounder to second with one out. Konerko extended his hitting streak to 10 with an RBI single, and Rios added a two-run double to make it 4-1.

But what looked like an easy evening took a difficult turn. Humber still hasn’t won since his perfect game against Seattle on April 21 and the right-hander is 0-2 in his last six starts after allowing five runs and six hits in 4 1-3 innings.

“I haven’t felt like I’ve really been in sync probably for awhile now,” he said.

Humber said he’s not finishing his pitches. But the question is: Why?

“I’ve got to figure out what’s going on,” he said. “There’s a lot of feel that goes on as a pitcher.”

NOTES: Justin Morneau hit two late homers for Minnesota — a leadoff homer against Will Ohman in the seventh and a two-run drive against Addison Reed in the ninth. … Throwing off the mound and from the stretch, Snoop Dogg delivered the first pitch. The rapper was in the area for a concert. … Asked his favorite Snoop song, Ventura said, “I don’t know. They’re always X-ed out. All the words are X-ed out, so I don’t know. I don’t know how to read those.” … The Twins held Ryan Doumit (right calf) out of the lineup so Mauer could serve as the DH. Doumit is not ready to play the field yet. “He felt it a little bit last night, he’s been legging out some doubles,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. “I told him to take it easy, but you always know once you get playing in a game and you see something, you’re going to go for it. He was a little bit stiffer last night after the game. I backed him off today.” Gardenhire said he wants to see Doumit catch some bullpen sessions and run the bases before using him in the field.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Sale pitched seven sharp innings and Paul Konerko and Alex Rios backed him with home runs, leading the Chicago White Sox to a 6-0 win over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night.

Sale (5-2) held the Twins to two hits and two walks, striking out six. He has allowed three runs or less in all eight of his starts in his first year as a member of the rotation.

“Part of pitching is finding a groove and rolling with it,” Sale said. “I felt early that I got into a groove and A.J. (Pierzynski) back there calling one of the best games I’ve seen him call in a while. It was fun to be out there.”

Still showing a black eye after getting hit in the face by a pitch last Friday, Konerko had three hits and scored three times.

“It’s only when I look in the mirror that I can see something is wrong with it,” he said.

Konerko connected in the seventh for his ninth homer of the season. He’s hitting .548 (17 of 31) during a nine-game hitting streak and his .381 average for the season is two points better than Texas’ Josh Hamilton for the AL lead.

“You’re always grinding out there,” Konerko said. “I had one good swing the whole night, a really good swing at the end there that turns into a home run.”

Rios sent a two-run homer into the Twins’ bullpen in left field in the fourth, his first home run since April 7 at Texas.

“I think he’s been swinging it pretty good and not really hitting home runs,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. “Just approach-wise he’s been looking good at the plate, putting in his work and feeling comfortable at the plate.”

The White Sox recorded their fifth shutout of the season and have won five of six. Chicago had lost 9-2 to Minnesota on Tuesday.

“These guys are resilient,” Ventura said. “They find a way to come back and as difficult as yesterday was all the way around to be able to bounce back and put together a game like this all the way around, pitching and the offense, is nice to see.”

The Twins entered the game with the worst record in the AL, but had gone 5-1 on their current road trip. They hurt themselves by making three errors, setting up three unearned runs — Minnesota had committed just one error in its previous eight games. Minnesota has been shut out eight times this season.

“Sale was really good on us,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “He didn’t give us much of a chance. Our defense, which has been playing really good, as talked about before the ballgame — I think we jinxed ourselves.”

Scott Diamond (3-1) allowing five runs, only two of them earned, and gave up a season-high nine hits. He left the game with a 1.78 ERA this season.

“He threw the ball well,” Gardenhire said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t make some plays behind him. We made him throw some extra pitches and made him work a little bit harder.”

Sale permitted just one runner past first base and was aided by a pair of double plays. He’s made a seamless return to the rotation over his last three outings after a brief shift to the bullpen, the team’s response to his elbow soreness.

“I felt like I was commanding my fastball well and I threw the changeup for strikes more so than I have been,” he said.

Chicago scored an unearned run in the first on Adam Dunn’s RBI single, helped by an error from second baseman Jamey Carroll. The White Sox tacked on two more unearned runs in the sixth on an RBI double by Pierzynski and an RBI groundout by Orlando Hudson, with right fielder Darin Mastroianni dropping a fly ball during the inning.

NOTES: Joe Mauer reached base three times for Minnesota on a single and a pair of walks. He’s reached base in 13 of his last 18 plate appearances. … Hudson made his first career start at third base. … Ventura said that rookie Addison Reed is now his full-time closer. Reed has converted all four of his save opportunities this season.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Twins have teamed with a local group to sell salads at Sunday games — and give kids in low-income neighborhoods gardening experience.

The Twins are scheduled to share more details at a news conference on Thursday morning at Nellie Stone Johnson school on the north side of Minneapolis.

Roots for the Home Team is a recently created organization that collaborates with three youth garden programs in the Twin Cities designed to promote healthy eating for children living in poorer urban areas. Participants will help grow produce for salads to be sold at Target Field on Sundays during the rest of the 2012 season.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Walters tossed his first career complete game and Justin Morneau hit a three-run homer as the Twins routed the Chicago White Sox 9-2 on Tuesday night.

“My bullpen was smiling when they came in shaking hands. We haven’t seen that very much around here,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “(Walters) ate up a whole ballgame’s worth of innings, which really helps your bullpen out. We’ve really been beat up out there.”

Five relievers combined to throw 6 1-3 innings in the Twins’ 16-4 loss to Milwaukee on Sunday, and five were used for an inning apiece in Saturday’s 11-inning win.

“The goal of the night is to always keep them out of there,” Walters said. “To have yesterday off and then the day off, that’s good rest for a few of them.”

Walters (2-1) cruised in his third start of the season to snap Chicago’s four-game winning streak. He gave up a solo homer to Gordon Beckham with one out in the first inning, but allowed little else.

Two batters after Beckham’s home run, Paul Konerko doubled off Walters, then the 27-year-old right-hander didn’t allow another hit until Konerko singled with one out in the seventh.

Walters let the leadoff man reach in the third, fourth and fifth innings, but used his off-speed pitches to induce double plays each time to erase any potential threat.

“(My changeup) was a good pitch for me early in the game,” he said. “My breaking ball got better for me later in the game, so I used it more at the end. It definitely got me a few ground balls early in the game that were big for us.”

Walters struck out eight and allowed just five hits and two runs.

Morneau’s leadoff walk in the second started the four-run rally, and his fourth-inning blast capped the five-run fourth for the Twins, who have won five of their last six games.

Minnesota’s offense came to life early, sending nine men to the plate in the second inning against Gavin Floyd. Alexi Casilla’s two-run double put the Twins on the board, and Jamey Carroll and Denard Span followed with run-scoring singles.

They continued to pour it on in the fourth. Floyd intentionally walked Joe Mauer with two outs to load the bases for Josh Willingham, who laced a 3-1 pitch under shortstop Alexei Ramirez’s glove to drive in two runs. Morneau pulled the next pitch over the right field wall to put Minnesota up 9-1.

“Morneau had a big night,” Gardenhire said. “I know his home run was big, but I thought leading off the second inning with that walk after getting behind in the count was huge. It led to four runs.”

Floyd (3-5) took a seat after Morneau’s homer. He was charged with nine runs and eight hits over 3 2-3 innings.

He dropped to 0-8 in his last eight starts against Minnesota dating to Aug. 31, 2009.

“I wish I could pinpoint certain things,” Floyd said. “”They have a good game plan against me apparently and I’ve got to change that and try to get them next time.”

It was the second consecutive miserable outing for Floyd, who gave up seven runs and 10 hits to the Angels last Wednesday.

Konerko finished with two hits in his return to the lineup. He missed two games due to a laceration and swelling over his left eye from being hit by a pitch on Friday night against the Cubs.

He drove in Chicago’s second run with an RBI groundout in the ninth.

The White Sox had beaten the Twins in eight of their last 10 meetings overall, but fell to 3-11 in their last 14 home games against Minnesota.

Beckham’s homer was his fifth of the season, all coming this month. It was his third in the last four games.

Notes: The White Sox placed 3B Brent Morel (lumbar back strain) on the 15-day DL and signed INF Orlando Hudson to a one-year contract covering the remainder of the 2012 season. . Minnesota designated RHP Jason Marquis for assignment and selected the contract of RHP Cole DeVries from Triple-A Rochester. DeVries will start Thursday in his major league debut. . Scott Diamond (3-0, 1.40 ERA) goes for the Twins on Wednesday against Chris Sale (4-2, 2.91).

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

This certainly wasn’t part of their plan when they left spring training. The Twins are hoping that the latest rookie reinforcement for their depleted rotation will mimic the recent call-ups and help stabilize the struggling group.

Right-hander Jason Marquis was removed from the roster on Tuesday, ending his stint with the Twins after just seven starts. General manager Terry Ryan said he is trying to trade Marquis, but he is unlikely to be sent to Triple-A Rochester, an assignment the 13-year veteran has the right to refuse. If no deal is reached in 10 days, Marquis would be released. The Twins signed him for $3 million this season.

“You try to give everybody due respect, and he’s been around a long time. It just wasn’t working out here, so we decided to make a move,” Ryan said.

So who’s up next? The answer is right-hander Cole DeVries, whose contract was selected from Rochester. The Minnesota native went 1-4 with a 4.24 ERA for the Red Wings, allowing 47 hits in 46 2-3 innings with seven walks and 37 strikeouts.

Undrafted out of the University of Minnesota in 2006, DeVries breezed through Class A but struggled in 2010 between Double-A New Britain and Rochester, mostly out of the bullpen. Last year, he was much better, posting a combined 3.40 ERA with 23 walks and 75 strikeouts in 90 innings for the Rock Cats and the Red Wings. Then he impressed the Twins more with a strong performance in the Arizona Fall League.

“Ever since he signed here, he’s been fairly consistent. He can pitch out of the pen. He can start. He’s got four pitches. He’s athletic,” Ryan said. “We’re just going to give him the ball and see how he does.”

The 27-year-old DeVries, once a standout at Eden Prairie High School, will start on Thursday for his major league debut. The Twins are in Chicago to play the White Sox.

Carl Pavano is the only one still in the rotation who was supposed to be there from the start. Scott Baker’s elbow trouble led to Tommy John ligament replacement surgery. Francisco Liriano was demoted to the bullpen. Nick Blackburn was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained thigh muscle, making him ineligible to return until June 1. Now Marquis has been yanked, too.

Though the top of the farm system has been thin on top prospects the last few years, particularly with recent first-round draft picks Kyle Gibson and Alex Wimmers recovering from elbow injuries, the Twins have found at least some short-term satisfaction with the job Scott Diamond and P.J. Walters have done since their promotions from Triple-A.

Diamond still leads Rochester with a 4-1 record, and he’s 3-0 with a 1.40 ERA in three starts for the Twins. Walters has won once and lost once, with a 3.65 ERA in two appearances entering Tuesday’s start against the White Sox. Even Liam Hendriks, the first fill-in after Baker was deemed unable to pitch, threw well in his first two appearances before being hit hard in his last two starts and sent back to Triple-A.

The Twins chose DeVries this time to give Hendriks more time to find a rhythm.

“It seems like we’re headed in the right direction here a little bit. I’m not going to tell you that everything has calmed down. It hasn’t. But they’ve given us a chance to win,” Ryan said.

Marquis was 2-4 with an abysmal 8.47 ERA. The veteran gave up 52 hits with 14 walks and only 12 strikeouts in 34 innings, his first foray into the American League.

Marquis was having one of the best seasons of his career in 2011 with the Washington Nationals, going 8-5 with a 3.95 ERA in 20 starts, but he was traded at the end of July and struggled in three appearances for the Arizona Diamondbacks before his leg was broken by a line drive back to the mound.

His young daughter was seriously hurt in a bicycle accident in March, pulling Marquis to his home in New York, and he was late to join the Twins for the regular season after taking extra time in spring training to try to get back in a groove. The 33-year-old is 106-106 for his career with a 4.63 ERA.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Marquis allowed eight runs in 1 2-3 innings, done in by Milwaukee’s six-hit, six-run second inning, and the Brewers went on to beat the Twins 16-4 on Sunday.

Lucroy homered twice and had a career-high seven RBIs, and Zack Greinke pitched six strong innings to improve to 14-0 at Miller Park for the Brewers.

In Milwaukee’s second inning, Ryan Braun doubled in two runs, Lucroy had a bloop two-run single and Corey Hart and Travis Ishikawa each added run-scoring singles. Marquis (2-4) also hit one of the 10 batters he faced. After Ishikawa’s two-out RBI hit, Anthony Swarzak took over for Marquis and retired Cesar Izturis on a fly ball.

“I’m putting the team in a hole every time I step on the mound,” Marquis said after losing his fourth straight start. “I can’t get it right right now. They hit good pitches and bad pitches.”

Marquis’ last victory was April 29 when he beat Kansas City.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said the Brewers’ batters just didn’t miss as his club lost a chance to win five games in a row for the first time this season.

“They seemed to hit everything we threw up there,” he said. “Everything Marquis threw was up and you can’t have that from your starter.”

Lucroy connected on an 0-2 pitch from Jeff Gray in the seventh inning for his first career grand slam. The ball nipped the back edge of the padding in right before falling into the Twins’ bullpen. He also had a solo homer in the first.

With the victory, the Brewers avoided being swept in a three-game series with Minnesota for the first time since Sept. 15-17, 1978, when Milwaukee was still in the American League.

Greinke (5-1) benefited from Milwaukee’s season highs for hits (17) and runs to extend his unbeaten streak to 20 starts as a Brewer at Miller Park. He allowed one run on five hits, struck out six and walked one.

Staked to a seven-run lead early, he allowed just one run on four hits through six innings. In the seventh, Trevor Plouffe singled with one out. Second baseman Edwin Maysonet’s two-base throwing error put runners at second and third. After Denard Span walked to load the bases, Juan Perez relieved and struck out Ben Revere to end the threat.

Braun went 3 for 4 with two doubles, a single, four RBIs and two runs scored. Hart also had three hits, including his ninth home run of the season. Taylor Green’s sacrifice fly pushed the lead to 10-1. An inning later, Braun made it 11-1 with a bloop RBI single. Norichika Aoki pinch hit for Braun in the seventh and drove in a run.

Gardenhire turned to his catcher Drew Butera to pitch the eighth after using four relievers after Marquis.

“Butera looked like a catcher pitching,” Gardenhire said. “He said he pitched in high school so that’s the only reason why I put him out there.”

The Miller Park radar gun recorded one of Butera’s pitches at 94 mph.

The game got a little chippy in the Twins’ ninth.

Milwaukee reliever Tim Dillard threw behind Jamey Carroll leading off the inning and was promptly ejected by home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt. Three Brewers had already been hit in the game.

“We pretty much stunk up the field, so there’s no need for us to be throwing at anybody,” Gardenhire said.

The Twins’ bright spot was Revere, who kept up his strong hitting since being recalled May 17. He doubled and scored on Josh Willingham’s single in the Twins’ first. Revere came into the game batting .400 with two runs scored and two stolen bases.

Brian Dozier had a RBI single in the eighth for the Twins.

Minnesota scored a run in the ninth when Izturis couldn’t field Darin Mastroianni’s two-out roller to short with the bases loaded. Then reliever Kameron Loe walked in a run before retiring Dozier to end the game.

Hart led off the bottom of the first with a solo shot that nearly cleared the second tier of seats in left. Lucroy followed two outs later with another solo blast. It landed in the same tier in left, but just a few rows in.

NOTES: Joe Mauer had four hits for the Twins. … Revere has a seven-game hitting streak. … Twins pitchers have surrendered a major-league leading 58 home runs.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Plouffe hit a solo home run in the 11th inning, lifting the Twins over the Milwaukee Brewers 5-4 Saturday for their season-high fourth straight win.

Plouffe’s fourth homer of the season came off Manny Parra (0-1) with two outs. Parra retired the first two batters before Plouffe sent a 2-0 pitch into the Brewers’ bullpen.

“That was a big one today,” Gardenhire said. “At that point, we were all yelling for him to hit a home run. We’d been there long enough. It was a pretty exciting moment for him.”

Plouffe was not available for comment.

“I think everybody is coming together, from our starting lineup to the pitchers to the bullpen,” outfielder Ben Revere said. “We go to Detroit and sweep them. Hopefully, we can finish this thing off with a sweep. It’d be good feeling. We’d be right back in this.”

Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy said that Plouffe had Parra right where he wanted.

“He got behind. He got him in a fastball advantage count for the hitter,” Lucroy said. “He cheated to it and yanked it out of there.”

“(If) that ball is down, it’s a rollover to the shortstop,” Lucroy said. “That’s the way it goes.”

The Brewers have lost six of seven, including four straight which tied a season-worst. During that stretch, they have scored just 21 runs. Milwaukee fell to a season-low eight games below .500.

“We’ve got to be able to score a run,” Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said.

Milwaukee tied its season-high with 14 strikeouts.

Matt Capps, the fifth Twins reliever, got three outs for his ninth save.

The Brewers threatened to win it in the 10th when Corey Hart singled with one out off reliever Jeff Gray (3-0). After Nyjer Morgan struck out, Ryan Braun looped the ball over second baseman Jamey Carroll and Hart raced to third on the play. But Aramis Ramirez, whose two-run homer in the eighth tied the game, flied out to end the inning.

The game turned into a battle between relievers after strong starts by the Twins’ Carl Pavano and Milwaukee’s Yovanni Gallardo.

“Both sides threw just about everything they had out there,” Gardenhire said. “It was a back and forth ballgame.”

Ramirez’s two-run homer off reliever Jared Burton in the eighth tied it at 4. His third home run of the season came with Morgan aboard with his third single in the game.

The Twins went ahead 3-2 in the seventh when reliever Juan Perez, who just had his contract selected from Triple-A Nashville, hit Revere with the bases loaded. Carroll added an RBI single in the eighth.

Brian Dozier hit two bases-loaded sacrifice flies off Gallardo, one in the fourth and the other in the sixth. Milwaukee answered each time off Pavano with RBI singles by Jonathan Lucroy in the fourth and Braun in the sixth.

Pavano, the 36-year-old right-hander, made his 300th career major league appearance and went six innings, allowing two runs on five hits with one walk and six strikeouts. Gallardo went six innings, allowing two runs — one earned — on three hits. He walked three and struck out three.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Diamond now is 3-0 since being called up for the Twins, who pounded the Milwaukee Brewers 11-3 on Friday night.

“He’s not overwhelmed,” Gardenhire said. “He went to Triple-A and did his thing. As we said when we sent him down, ‘Be the guy that’s throwing the best and you’ll get your chance.’ And here he is.”

Diamond (3-0) gave up a run in the first, ending the 14-inning scoreless stretch he put together in two starts since he was called up from the minors. He went on to give up three runs and eight hits in 5 1-3 innings.

“I’m getting to really know our defense, and I’m feeling a lot more comfortable out on the mound,” Diamond said. “I trust these guys as much as I can, and I’m just excited to take the mound.”

Josh Willingham hit a two-run homer, his eighth of the season, while Denard Span, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau had three RBIs each for the Twins.

“The big boys in our lineup all had really good nights, along with Denard Span at the top,” Gardenhire said.

Ryan Braun hit his 11th home run for the struggling Brewers, who went 1-3 on a short road trip earlier this week. Milwaukee had four errors.

Can Milwaukee still turn it around?

“It can’t be too much longer,” Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. “It is a long season. It is not at the point where I still don’t think we can’t turn this thing around. We’ve got a long ways to go. I just don’t want to have to have the huge winning streaks and monthlong streaks where it is the only way we can get back in it.”

Roenicke made a significant lineup change coming into the game, shifting struggling second baseman Rickie Weeks to the No. 6 spot in the order. Coming into the game, Weeks was batting only .156 with 49 strikeouts.

Roenicke moved Corey Hart to the leadoff spot, while Norichika Aoki started in centerfield and batted second.

Hart had a single and a double while Aoki added a single and an RBI double — plus an over-the-shoulder catch in the first. Weeks went 1-for-3 with a walk.

Brewers starter Marco Estrada (0-3) gave up four runs and six hits in five innings, with a walk and five strikeouts.

The Twins took a 2-0 lead in the first when Span led off with a double, then Estrada gave up a pair of deep fly balls — both going for outs on impressive catches by Aoki and Braun — before Willingham crushed a pitch deep into the left field stands.

It wasn’t the first big moment in Milwaukee for Willingham, who hit two grand slams in back-to-back innings at Miller Park while playing for the Washington Nationals in 2009.

The Brewers got a run back in the bottom half of the inning when Hart scored as Braun grounded into a fielder’s choice, ending Diamond’s scoreless streak. But with runners on second and third with two outs after a double-steal, Weeks grounded out to end the inning.

Milwaukee tied it up in the third on an RBI double by Aoki, but the Twins threw out Braun on a double-steal attempt that sent Aoki to third — then third baseman Jamey Carroll threw out Aoki at home on a grounder by Aramis Ramirez, and Jonathan Lucroy flew out to end the inning.

Mauer then delivered a two-run double in the fifth to give the Twins a 4-2 lead.

Brewers reliever Manny Parra loaded the bases with one out in the sixth, and the Twins let Diamond bat instead of pinch-hitting for him. Gardenhire said he was concerned about overworking his bullpen.

“I can’t take him out of there,” Gardenhire said.

After getting his first career hit in the fifth, Diamond struck out.

“He said, ‘I think the pitches were high’ and I said, ‘Be careful, you’re getting those pitches on the other side,’” Gardenhire said.

But Span hit a two-run single to put the Twins up 6-2 and chase Parra from the game.

Braun hit a solo homer in the sixth, cutting the lead to 6-3.

“I did hang it, but I think he was right on it,” Diamond said. “I’ve got to make a bit of an adjustment there.”

But the Twins added a run in the seventh and another four in the eighth, including one on a bloop single by Span that landed between Weeks and Hart.

Notes: Gardenhire said Ryan Doumit was available for pinch-hitting duty Friday despite a sore calf. … Roenicke said the team was monitoring starter Shaun Marcum, who has soreness near his ribcage. … Twins RHP Carl Pavano (2-3, 5.14) faces Milwaukee RHP Yovani Gallardo (2-4, 5.04) Saturday.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — When the Twins take on the Brewers this weekend, the pitchers take the spotlight as they have to step into the batter’s box.

“Pitchers don’t work on hitting enough to be successful hitters,” Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson said. “But they all think they can hit, just like hitters think they can pitch.”

For Drew Butera, it’s a chance for teammates to back up their big talk.

“It’s always fun to see those guys out there with a bat in their hands,” he said. “They talk a big game off of the field, but it’s always fun to see what they can do on it.”

Strength and conditioning coordinator Perry Castellano just hopes no one gets injured.

“This is my biggest concern over the course of the season,” he said. “They don’t pick up a bat, and then they all think they’re home-run hitters.”

The 2014 tournament will be held at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb., the site of the NCAA Division I Men’s College World Series.

The 2013 tournament will be the seventh played in Minneapolis, as Minnesota hosted the event in 1984, 1986, 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2004. The 2014 tournament will be the Big Ten’s first in Omaha and the state of Nebraska.

Five different teams have won the Big Ten tournament in the event’s 31 years. Minnesota leads all Big Ten teams with nine tournament titles, Michigan and Ohio State each have eight, Illinois has four, and Indiana has two.

The Big Ten baseball tournament had been played as a neutral-site event in Columbus, Ohio, since 2009. The event was held at Huntington Park, the home of the Triple-A Columbus Clippers, in 2009 and 2011 and will be played at that ballpark May 23-26, 2012. The tournament was held at Ohio State’s Bill Davis Stadium in 2010. Prior to 2009, the tournament was played at the site of the regular-season champion or the champion from a pre-selected division, with the exception of 1993 and 1994, when it was held in Battle Creek, Mich.

Tickets for the 2012 Big Ten baseball tournament at Huntington Park in Columbus, Ohio, are on sale now. Visit www.bigten.org for more information.

P.J. Walters (1-1) allowed four hits — including three solo homers — in 6 1-3 innings for the Twins, who swept the two-game series at Comerica Park. Minnesota (12-26) has won two in a row for only the second time this season.

Morneau’s homer off Doug Fister (0-2) opened the scoring in the third, and Trevor Plouffe followed with a long ball. Minnesota led 4-0 before the Tigers came back with homers by Brennan Boesch, Andy Dirks and Prince Fielder.

Three relievers finished for the Twins, with Matt Capps pitching a perfect ninth for his eighth save.

Francisco Liriano came on with two on and one out in the seventh and got pinch-hitter Ramon Santiago to hit into a double play. Glen Perkins walked the first two Detroit hitters in the eighth on nine pitches, but he struck out Prince Fielder, and Delmon Young hit into a double play to end that inning.

The Tigers were hoping for a strong start from Fister after allowing 19 runs in their previous two games against the Twins and Chicago White Sox, but the Detroit right-hander was in trouble from the start.

Minnesota left the bases loaded in the first, and Fister got out of a first-and-third, one-out jam in the second after he stepped toward third and threw back to first to catch Jamey Carroll off base for the second out of the inning.

With two outs in the third, Morneau and Plouffe hit back-to-back homers. It was Morneau’s fifth of the year and first since coming off the disabled list. He returned to the lineup Wednesday night after being on the DL since May 1 with a sore left wrist.

Fister, who missed most of April with a left side strain, hadn’t allowed a run at Comerica since Aug. 30.

Minnesota added a crucial run in the fifth after Fielder failed to catch Fister’s throw to first on Josh Willingham’s tapper. Willingham went all the way to third on the play, and Morneau drove him home with a groundball.

Boesch’s homer in the bottom of the inning was Detroit’s first hit off Walters. Dirks and Fielder added solo shots of their own in the sixth.

NOTES: Boesch extended his hitting streak to 10 games. … Detroit RHP Luis Marte (left hamstring strain) has been assigned to Class A Lakeland as part of an injury rehabilitation assignment. … Detroit sends Justin Verlander (4-1) to the mound Friday to start a three-game series against Pittsburgh. Charlie Morton (2-3) starts for the Pirates. … The Twins are at Milwaukee. Scott Diamond (2-0) will start for Minnesota on Friday against Marco Estrada (0-2).

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Instead, Gardenhire said Thursday that right-hander Nick Blackburn was going on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left quadriceps. Blackburn was pulled after two innings in his start Wednesday night at Detroit.

After that game, the Twins announced that Doumit had been put on the DL with a strained right calf. But Gardenhire now says he’s day to day after an MRI revealed encouraging results. Gardenhire said: “The announcement that he was on the DL was just a little early. We kind of got ahead of ourselves.”

Minnesota recalled outfielder Ben Revere from Triple-A Rochester to replace Blackburn.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Reliever Jeff Gray took the mound: groundout, groundout, groundout.

Then Gray came back for the fourth: groundout, flyout, flyout.

Gray and the bullpen kept the Detroit bats under control, and the Twins went on to win 11-7 on Wednesday night. Jamey Carroll hit a two-run double in the sixth to give Minnesota the lead, and the sloppy Tigers couldn’t overcome their four errors.

After a wild beginning to the game, Gray retired the first six hitters he faced on only 14 pitches.

“Huge,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. “He was getting first-pitch swings, and those were huge, and then a lot of guys came in after that.”

Blackburn was pulled at the end of the second inning, having allowed six runs and six hits. He was bothered by a problem with his left thigh. The Twins also placed catcher Ryan Doumit on the 15-day disabled list after the game because of a strained right calf. They will recall outfielder Ben Revere from Triple-A Rochester for Thursday’s game at Detroit.

Miguel Cabrera hit an RBI double off Gray in the fifth to give the Tigers a 7-6 lead, but Carroll came up with men on first and second an inning later. His double off Duane Below (2-1) scored both runners.

Brian Dozier hit a three-run homer for Minnesota in the second, and Trevor Plouffe’s two-run shot in the ninth made it 11-7.

Minnesota’s Justin Morneau went 1 for 5 with a double in his first game back after being on the disabled list with a sore left wrist.

Alex Burnett (1-0) got the win. He was the second of five Minnesota relievers.

Detroit is 9-16 since a 9-3 start and is now dealing with injuries to closer Jose Valverde (strained lower back) and center fielder Austin Jackson (mild abdominal strain). Both are day to day. Jackson left Wednesday’s game after hitting a flyout in the fourth inning.

“You score seven runs, you have to win the game,” manager Jim Leyland said. “If you don’t, you have problems.”

In a sign of things to come, first baseman Prince Fielder dropped a routine throw with one out in the first. Joe Mauer followed with an RBI double, and shortstop Ramon Santiago’s throw home was wild for another error.

Josh Willingham’s double made it 2-0.

It was 2-1 in the second when second baseman Ryan Raburn’s two-out error kept a Minnesota rally alive. Dozier, the next batter, made it 5-1 with a homer to left.

Detroit came back immediately, scoring five runs in the bottom of the inning. Raburn drew a one-out walk, and the next five hitters — Brennan Boesch, Ramon Santiago, Jackson, Andy Dirks and Cabrera — all hit singles. Fielder’s second sacrifice fly of the game gave the Tigers a 6-5 lead.

Doumit’s RBI single in the third tied the game at 6, and Cabrera — the third baseman — made Detroit’s fourth error of the game later that inning. The Tigers became the first team since the New York Yankees in 2009 to have errors from all four infield spots in a game, according to STATS, LLC.

Gray came on in the third and immediately slowed Detroit’s offense.

“These guys are really aggressive. When they see a fastball, they’re swinging for sure,” Gray said. “Making sure that you keep them off balance, and putting your fastball where you want it, is a big deal with these guys.”

Detroit starter Rick Porcello allowed six runs — two earned — and six hits in four innings.

Down 9-7 in the seventh, the Tigers put men on second and third with one out. Alex Avila and Raburn struck out to end the threat.

NOTES: Minnesota OF Denard Span (right hamstring) was initially in the starting lineup but was scratched about an hour before the game. … The Twins beat the Tigers for the fifth time in their last 23 meetings. … Detroit optioned INF Danny Worth to Triple-A Toledo and are expected to recall RHP Brayan Villarreal. … Detroit’s Doug Fister (0-1) faces Minnesota’s P.J. Walters (0-1) on Thursday.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Morneau is set to play first base after telling Twins manager Ron Gardenhire he wanted to play there, rather than be the designated hitter. Morneau has been on the DL since May 1 with a sore left wrist. In 20 games this season, he is batting .230 with five doubles, four home runs and nine RBIs.

Morneau took batting practice Tuesday, his 31st birthday, to test his wrist and reported no problems.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Morneau took another round of early batting practice Tuesday, his 31st birthday, to test his sore left wrist and reported no problems. He told Twins manager Ron Gardenhire he wants to play first base, rather than be the designated hitter. In 20 games this season, Morneau is batting .230 with five doubles, four homers and nine RBIs. He spent the minimum 15 days on the DL.

To make room for Morneau, the Twins optioned first baseman Chris Parmelee to Triple-A Rochester. Parmelee is hitting .179 with 21 strikeouts in 84 at-bats.

Center fielder Denard Span wasn’t in the lineup Tuesday because of a sore right hamstring, and Gardenhire said Span is day to day.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Shin-Soo Choo, the Indians’ new leadoff man, scored after a leadoff double in the third inning and then hit the first of three Cleveland home runs in the fifth against Jason Marquis (2-3). Asdrubal Cabrera and Carlos Santana also homered to break the game open.

The 38-year-old Lowe (6-1) was at his sinker-balling best, walking four without a strikeout. He induced four double-play grounders in winning his fourth straight decision.

This was Lowe’s longest outing in eight starts this season. He’s allowed three runs or less with six innings or more in seven of them.

Acquiring Lowe from Atlanta for a minor leaguer has turned out to be arguably the best move the Indians made for 2012. The Fausto Carmona false-identity fallout and inconsistency by Ubaldo Jimenez and Justin Masterson have hurt the rotation, but Lowe has been a welcome stabilizer.

Lowe threw a season-high 127 pitches for his 10th career complete game, and first since Aug. 26, 2008, for the Los Angeles Dodgers. This was his fourth big league shutout, the previous one coming on Aug. 31, 2005, for the Dodgers at San Diego.

The only time the Twins truly came close to scoring was in the seventh when they loaded the bases with two outs on two singles and a walk. But Alexi Casilla swung at the first pitch for a lazy fly to right field.

The first-place Indians rebounded from five losses in their previous six games with a two-game sweep at Target Field of the majors-worst Twins, who entered the game with the most groundballs hit in the league, an average of more than 14 per game.

Starting pitching has been just as much of a problem, and Marquis was the latest to falter. Manager Ron Gardenhire spoke before the game of the importance of a quality performance from Marquis, but he gave up nine hits, five runs and two walks in five innings while striking out only two.

The last time the Twins surrendered three homers in one inning was in 2010 when Carl Pavano did it at Detroit.

Casey Kotchman punched an RBI single down the lane past a shifted-over third baseman Jamey Carroll to drive in Santana after a double to start the second. Marquis escaped a leadoff triple by Michael Brantley in the fourth, but the ball was flying all over the place in the fifth.

Choo’s drive reached the left-field seats. Two batters later, Cabrera hit an 0-1 sinker to the upper deck in right-center. Then Santana turned on a changeup that sailed just inside the pole down the right-field line.

NOTES: Cleveland manager Manny Acta said before the game that Choo will be the leadoff hitter until further notice. … The Indians improved to 12-6 on the road, the third-best mark in the majors. … Indians 3B Jack Hannahan was held out for a second straight game because of a sore back. … Pavano will stay in Minnesota for a few days to work with a soft-tissue specialist on his bothersome right shoulder when the team leaves for the road, but he’s expected to make his next start on Saturday. … Twins C Joe Mauer, who went 0 for 3 with a walk and three groundouts, batted second for the first time this season.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Almost as quickly as the slumbering Twins’ offense woke up, the celebration was over and another game was lost.

Shin-Soo Choo hit the go-ahead RBI single in the ninth inning to back Jeanmar Gomez’s seven superb innings and lift the Cleveland Indians to a 5-4 victory over Minnesota on Monday night.

“Excitement abounds,” said manager Ron Gardenhire, whose Twins fell to 10-25. “But unfortunately it was short-lived.”

The Twins trailed 4-1 heading into the eighth inning before Josh Willingham had an RBI double off of Vinnie Pestano and Doumit followed with his fifth homer of the year — off of Nick Hagadone — to tie the game.

But Matt Capps (0-2) gave up a single to Casey Kotchman in the ninth and threw a wild pitch that allowed him to advance to second. Choo’s base hit scored pinch-runner Lou Marson from second base.

“It’s tough,” Doumit said. “Any loss is tough. But everybody’s battling. It’s one of those games. We’re trying. No one wants to win more than us. Everybody’s got each other’s back and we just have to keep grinding. It was a great game and we just fell short.”

The Twins had nothing going offensively against Gomez, the 24-year-old right-hander who allowed one unearned run on three hits with three strikeouts and two walks. They managed just three hits and were only able to scrape one run across the board when Darin Mastroianni scored on a throwing error from Indians catcher Carlos Santana in the third inning.

The Twins had only five hits total and Capps allowed a run for the first time in six outings.

“He’s been lights out,” Gardenhire said of Capps. “He’s our closer. Give him the ball in the ninth inning like that, that’s who goes out there. Always has been, always will be. Just didn’t get it done.”

Santana and Travis Hafner had RBIs in the fourth before Kotchman smashed his third homer of the year well into the seats in right field in the fifth for a 4-1 lead.

Twins starter Carl Pavano gave up four runs on six hits in six innings while pitching through some soreness in his shoulder.

The 36-year-old recently had an MRI on his right shoulder that revealed some inflammation, but no serious damage. He believes the inflammation is what is causing his drop in velocity. Pavano said he felt better on Monday night than he has recently, but the shoulder is still bothering him.

“It’s not always pleasant,” Pavano said. “As a pitcher, your arm doesn’t always feel 100 percent. But with what I’m dealing with, there’s days that it bothers me more than others. I’ve been able to get through it and, on my fifth day, go out there and compete. That’s the important thing.”

He was relieved in the seventh by Francisco Liriano, the lefty’s first appearance out of the bullpen since being demoted from the starting rotation last week. Liriano went 0-5 with a 9.45 ERA in his first six starts. Liriano pitched two scoreless innings with three strikeouts.

“Sure we’re playing better baseball, but winning has to be a part of it,” Gardenhire said. “We’ve put ourselves in a big enough hole that you can’t afford to continue to lose and say you’re playing better baseball. This was a hard loss. We have to win.”

NOTES: Indians 3B Jack Hannahan did not play because of a sore back. … Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said INF Alexi Casilla is the team’s utility player after the shuffle that brought Dozier up from Triple-A and moved Jamey Carroll to 2B. Gardenhire planned to play Casilla on Tuesday. … It was Liriano’s first relief appearance since Sept. 24 when he gave up five earned runs in 1-3 of an inning and took the loss against the Indians. … RHP Jason Marquis (2-2, 6.26 ERA) will pitch for the Twins on Tuesday against Cleveland RHP Derek Lowe (5-1, 2.47). The 38-year-old Lowe is 3-0 with a 1.75 ERA in 25 2-3 innings over his last four starts.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Morneau is eligible to come off the DL on Wednesday. He plans to take batting practice before the game on Tuesday as one final test.

Morneau says he doesn’t think he will need a rehab assignment to work on his timing. General manager Terry Ryan says if Morneau doesn’t think he needs one, he most likely won’t be sent out before rejoining the Twins.

The Twins start an eight-game road trip on Wednesday in Detroit and Morneau says he’s already looking at who will be pitching for the Tigers to get ready.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Diamond pitched seven shutout innings, Brian Dozier hit his first career homer and the Minnesota Twins held on to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 Sunday.

Ryan Doumit and Jamey Carroll added two hits apiece for the Twins, who became the last team in the majors to reach double-digit wins by splitting the four-game series. Matt Capps pitched a scoreless ninth for his seventh save in as many chances.

Yunel Escobar and Eric Thames knocked in runs for Toronto, which closed its road trip at 5-5.

Diamond (2-0) has given the Twins the type of starting pitching that has been sorely lacking for most of the season. Minnesota starters entered the game with a collective 6.57 ERA, the worst in baseball.

Called up from Triple-A Rochester on Monday, he threw seven shutout innings Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Angels. Just as he did then, Diamond worked ahead in the count, moved the ball in and out and primarily kept the ball down in the zone. He allowed five hits and struck out four without a walk.

“I was getting hit hard, but our defense came up big for me,” he said. “I’m not a strikeout guy, so I just want them to keep hitting the ball in play and we were able to get some outs.” Diamond was hit with a line drive on his pitching shoulder in the second inning, but he kept stretching in the dugout between innings.

Last year, Diamond was 1-5 in seven starts for the Twins. This year he’s more relaxed, taking things simpler and is focusing on the batter rather than letting things get out of control. “Taking a couple of deep breaths on the mound has got me back to settling down. This year it’s more about getting back, getting wins, and helping this team out in whatever way I could.”

P.J. Walters allowed two runs in six hits taking Saturday’s 2-1 loss, but maybe the young guns are what the Twins need now.

“They competed in Spring Training, and they went down and worked on some things and we had starters here,” catcher Drew Butera said. “They have major league stuff.”

Toronto starter Ricky Romero (4-1) allowed nine hits in 5 1-3 innings, walked five and did not strike out a batter for the first time in 101 career starts. He threw only 51 of his 99 pitches for strikes. He has just one win in his past four outings.

“It’s mechanics,” he said. “I’m rushing through my delivery. I worked on it all week. This game just tests you sometimes mentally. You just got to stay mentally strong and just continue to work.”

Dozier, the Twins’ 2011 minor leaguer of the year who was also called up Monday, homered in the third for a 1-0 lead before the patient Twins scored three times in the fifth.

Denard Span and Dozier singled before Joe Mauer walked to load the bases with no outs. Josh Willingham walked and Doumit followed with a two-run single up the middle. It was Minnesota’s only hit with runners in scoring position over its past 19 opportunities.

“We faced a very good pitcher, Romero’s going to make you work,” said Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire. “We made him work pretty hard and we got his pitch, so it says a lot about the way we had at-bats, we made him throw pitches, but we couldn’t finish him off. We had an opportunity to open it up.”

That lack of timely hitting nearly cost the Twins as Toronto scored three times in the eighth inning.

After RBI singles by Escobar and Eric Thames, another run scored on a wild pitch by Glen Perkins. But Brett Lawrie grounded out with the tying run on third.

“We got a bunch of fighters. We don’t give up until the last out,” Davis said. “Unfortunately we came up on the wrong side.”

The rough start has put Minnesota in a deep hole early, but Dozier isn’t concerned.

“We’re playing good baseball right now,” Dozier said. “We’ll get things going.”

NOTES: Toronto turned two double plays for a league-best 45. … Davis had two of Toronto’s four stolen bases. … Minnesota’s Trevor Plouffe ended a 0-for-11 skid with a seventh-inning double. … Minnesota opens a two-game homestand against Cleveland on Monday. Carl Pavano (2-3, 5.02 ERA) will take the hill for the Twins against Jeanmar Gomez (2-2, 4.66). Pavano said Sunday he recently had an MRI that revealed a strained shoulder, but that he’s good for Monday. … Brandon Morrow (4-1, 2.27) is scheduled to start Monday when the Blue Jays return home to face Tampa Bay and Jeff Niemann (2-3, 3.48).

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Every Friday at 5:45 p.m. on WCCO Radio, John Williams has his weekly “Bright Side of Life” segment, where callers tell us what’s making them happy this week.

That might sound a little hokey, but as John always says, “it’s guaranteed leave you smiling,” and even for someone as cynical as yours truly, it generally does.

It’s difficult to find many things to smile about when the Twins are 9-24 overall in 2012, and 1-8 on games where I’ve been out at the ballpark.

But in the spirit of The John Williams Show, I’ll attempt to find something in this dreadful season to be happy about … namely the bullpen.

As a whole, the Twins relievers have logged 111 innings pitched this season which is the fourth highest total in baseball. Given the starting pitchers’ struggles (6.57 ERA, 1.60 WHIP, 4.91 K/9), you’d expect the relievers to be putting in a lot of innings.

What you might not expect is that they’ve held opponents to a .227 average (5th in the AL), with a 3.49 ERA (6th in the AL), and 1.10 WHIP (2nd in the AL). They’re not striking many batters out (6.41 K/9), but they’re not walking many either as evidenced by their 2.72 K/BB ratio (4th in the AL).

Individually, there are few guys who are having notable seasons so far in 2012.

Let’s start with Jared Burton. The six-year veteran was signed by the Twins in the off-season to a one-year, $750,000 contract. Not an extravagant expense, nor should it have been for a guy who appeared in only 10 games over the last two seasons.

But he’s been nothing short of brilliant for the Twins so far this season. In 13 innings he has a 2.08 ERA, 0.385 WHIP, and 9.0 K/9. In his last 11 appearances (11.1 IP) he’s allowed nary a hit nor a run. That stretch actually goes to 11.2 innings if you count the last appearance where he did give up a hit. Opposing batters are just 3-for-41 off of him this season. The resulting .073 Batting Average Against is second-lowest in the American League for qualifying relievers, trailing only Oakland’s Ryan Cook (no relation).

Burton’s hot-streak may be the top highlight for Twins relievers this season, but it’s not the only one.

Jeff Gray was acquired by the Twins this past October after the Seattle Mariners made him available via waivers. So far in 2012 the fifth-year reliever has held opponents to a .200 batting-average in his 15 appearances. He’s thrown scoreless frames in 12 of those outings. In the last eight games in which he’s pitched, he’s allowed only one run on six hits with three walks and eight strikeouts. Not bad for a $485K investment by Minnesota.

Brian Duensing is in his fourth year with the Twins, and is quietly putting up solid numbers as well. He’s surrendered runs in only two of his 15 appearances so far, and has held opponents hitless in seven of his last nine games. His 2.16 ERA and 0.90 WHIP would both easily qualify as career-bests if he stays at that rate for the rest of the season.

Prior to Saturday’s game, manager Ron Gardenhire described Duensing as one of his more valuable relievers since he’s able to go two or three innings per appearance and is stretched out making him available for a spot start if needed.

Glen Perkins isn’t putting up numbers quite as eye-popping as last season, but is still more than effective as a lefty out of the bullpen. And say what you will about Matt Capps (and judging by the way Twitter explodes every time he comes into the game, you can say a lot), but he’s six-for-six in save opportunities this season.

All in all, the bullpen has been one of the few bright sides in an otherwise dismal year for the Twins. Which may make the pitchers I’ve talked about nothing more than trade bait come June. But still, we can enjoy their talents while they last right?

I think John Williams would be proud.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Twins manager Ron Gardenhire says he’s having trouble sleeping at night due to the struggles his team is having on the field.

However, he is not without hope. He just wants the Twins to play their brand of baseball.

Watch the video above to hear Gardenhire’s take on the team’s current state.

It has more to do with the opposing pitching staff than the stadium.

“Aggressive pitching staff, they throw strikes,” Bautista said after Toronto beat Minnesota 2-1 on Saturday night. “Missed some today, but I got the one that counted and it’s good enough for the win.”

Bautista homered for the third time in two nights and Drew Hutchison threw six strong innings for his second career win.

Bautista has nine hits over his past 53 at-bats, but five of them have been home runs. He hit two in Friday night’s loss, and his sixth-inning solo shot against Twins starter P.J. Walters (0-1) was the game-winner on Saturday.

“There was not a lot of video on him, so we didn’t really know if he had a preference on each side of the plate,” Bautista said of Walters.

“We just went out there and tried to get a good pitch to hit. He gave me a couple, but I managed to get the one that we needed.”

It was all the Blue Jays needed, with the Twins sputtering offensively and Hutchison showing poise in just his fifth appearance above Double-A.

Hutchinson (2-1) allowed three hits with four walks and four strikeouts. Minnesota’s run came in the fourth on a bases-loaded walk.

“He bends, but he doesn’t break,” Blue Jays manager John Farrell said. “Tonight, much like we’ve seen in a couple other outings, there’s that one inning where he’ll contribute to some trouble on the base paths, some traffic. But he kept away from the big inning.”

Francisco Cordero, Jason Frasor and Luis Perez combined for two innings of scoreless relief, and Casey Janssen picked up his second save in as many chances since taking over as closer for Cordero earlier in the week.

Walters made his Twins debut starting in place of Francisco Liriano, who was demoted to the bullpen earlier in the week. He pitched well in his first major league start since 2010, when he played for St. Louis, allowing six hits in six innings while striking out five.

“Obviously a little nervous getting out there the first inning or so, a few too many pitches, that type of thing,” Walters said. “After that, I settled down and made some good pitches when I needed to.”

The struggling Twins offense couldn’t come up with a timely hit. Minnesota went 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position and stranded six runners over the final four innings.

“We had plenty of chances, but it just didn’t work out for us tonight,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said.

Hutchison breezed through his first three innings before running into trouble in the fourth, when he gave up the bases-loaded walk to Trevor Plouffe to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead. The Jays tied it the next inning on Adam Lind’s RBI single that scored Colby Rasmus.

Brian Dozier led off the sixth with a double off Hutchison, and Josh Willingham drew a one-out walk two batters later. But Hutchinson struck out Ryan Doumit and got Plouffe on a groundout.

“The sixth inning might have been a growing experience for him tonight,” Farrell said.

Notes: Farrell picked up his 100th win as a manager. … Twins slugger Justin Morneau (wrist) said he felt good after taking 25-30 swings off a tee before Saturday’s game and was hopeful he’d be able to play once he’s eligible to come off the DL on Wednesday. “We’ll see once I start swinging more how everything goes, I’m pretty happy so far,” the former AL MVP said. … Bautista also has 10 homers in 28 games at Fenway Park. “There’s an energy that you feel that he will give off when he’s swinging the bat like he’s capable,” Farrell said before the game. “I think it just adds to the overall momentum that we can generate as a club and as a lineup.” … The Blue Jays and Twins wrap up their four-game series on Sunday when Toronto sends lefty Ricky Romero to the mound to face Minnesota’s Scott Diamond.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Target Field is No. 13 for Reggie Deal.

Deal, who’s blind, made Minnesota’s ballpark the 13th venue he’s visited en route to hanging out in all 30 ballparks in just 30 days.

He said it’s a goal he’s had since college, adding that the way the ball echoes in Target Field is different than other parks.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Too many walks did in the Toronto Blue Jays.

Darin Mastroianni got his first major league hit and drove in three runs to help the Minnesota Twins overcome Jose Bautista’s two homers in a 7-6 victory over Toronto on Friday night.

Of the nine Minnesota hitters who walked, five eventually scored.

“A high number of walks overall and anytime you combine those base on balls with some hits, you’re causing some issues for us to work out of,” Blue Jays manager John Farrell said.

Bautista hit two solo homers, raising his total at spacious Target Field to nine in nine career games. Minnesota stars Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau have hit seven home runs in 194 games at the 3-year-old ballpark.

Eric Thames and Edwin Encarnacion also homered for Toronto, which lost for just the second time in nine games at Target Field.

With the potential tying run on third and Matt Capps on the mound in the ninth, Bautista popped up to third base to end the game.

It was Capps’ sixth save in six chances.

“It’s bad news, we lost. I’m not going to make this game about me or my results,” said Bautista, who slammed his bat on the ground while trotting to first after popping up in the ninth. “Bottom line, we came out here to try to win a game and we didn’t. We’re not going to kill ourselves over it, it’s just one game.”

Kyle Drabek (2-4) was removed after 4 1-3 innings and 109 pitches — only 61 for strikes. He’s lost four consecutive starts for the first time in his career.

Drabek’s short outing also broke a 34-game streak of Toronto starters lasting at least five innings. The run dated to last season and was the longest active streak of its kind in the majors.

The right-hander said his biggest problem was his two-seam fastball, but he thought he got better after the first inning.

“It’s not that disappointing,” Drabek said. “I think I had just one bad inning that got my pitch count up there. I’m just disappointed with the first.”

Ryan Doumit added two RBIs and Denard Span had two hits and scored twice in a game that lasted 3 hours, 17 minutes, after rain delayed the first pitch for 1 hour, 51 minutes. Nick Blackburn snapped a 13-start winless streak.

Mastroianni clapped his hands and yelled to himself after both of his hits. It was a rare display of excitement and jubilation in what has been a miserable season for the Twins, baseball’s worst team so far.

“Just to be in the books that you got a hit in the big leagues, for it to be such an important one is something I can’t imagine,” said Mastroianni, who played one game with Toronto last season. “The second one was just as big as the first one.”

Mastroianni’s single in the fifth scored Josh Willingham and Doumit to give the Twinsa 6-2 lead. Bautista led off the sixth with his second home run of the night.

“We’ve seen it continue to come on this trip. It started in Anaheim with the Angels,” Farrell said. “He feels very comfortable in this ballpark, obviously, by the number of home runs he’s hit. … He’s seeing the ball much better now.”

Thames followed two batters later with a two-run shot that landed in front of the black batter’s eye in center field.

After Mastroianni drove in an insurance run in the seventh with a single to left, Encarnacion went deep off reliever Glen Perkins to cut it to 7-6.

Perkins then allowed two singles, but got Colby Rasmus to ground into a double play and pinch-hitter Ben Francisco to fly out. Willingham, not known for his defense, made a diving catch on Francisco’s blooper to left field.

Blackburn (1-4) was pulled after Thames’ home run, but left with a lead for the first time this season.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

His sinker sure helps that confidence.

Alvarez pitched seven strong innings to win his third straight start for the Blue Jays, 6-2 over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday night behind 12 ground-ball outs.

“He’s very calm and collected out there. He knows how good he is, not in a cocky sense but in how to attack the game and attack hitters and know that he can throw that ball up there and miss spots and still get ground balls,” catcher J.P. Arencibia said. “I think he’s mature beyond his age, and he’s getting better with every start.”

Alvarez (3-2) stretched his scoreless streak to 17 innings before second baseman Kelly Johnson’s throwing error allowed the Twins to score an unearned run in the third. Josh Willingham hit a home run in the sixth, but the 22-year-old Venezuelan didn’t give up any more than that. He allowed seven hits and three walks while striking out two.

Ron Gardenhire On Twins Loss

Joe Mauer On Twins Loss

“He knows he’s got a good defense behind him, and they’re making all the plays,” said Alvarez’s interpreter, Luis Rivera.

Yunel Escobar scored three times and hit four singles, and Edwin Encarnacion and Brett Lawrie each drove in two runs against Jason Marquis (2-2), the second veteran Twins starter in two nights to complete only four innings — following Carl Pavano’s early exit. Marquis allowed seven hits and six runs — five earned — while walking three and striking out two.

Jason Marquis On The Loss

Coming off his first career shutout last week against the Los Angeles Angels, Alvarez got the Twins to hit ground ball after ground ball just when he needed it. They hit into three double plays and almost had a fourth, but Johnson’s wild relay after the shortstop Escobar bobbled a grounder hit right at him wiped that one out.

Alvarez helped himself, too, on a scorcher sent back to the mound by Doumit in the second. Alvarez reached down to grab it like a hockey goalie in one smooth scoop and turned to throw for the out as Doumit tossed his bat toward the dugout in frustration.

“Really, he kept control of the game. He might not have been as sharp as his last time out, but just a solid effort by him overall,” manager John Farrell said.

Alvarez made his debut with the Blue Jays last year, getting 10 starts down the stretch after beginning the season in Class A.

“He trusts his infielders, trusts the defense, and we’re able to keep the game crisp when he’s on the mound,” Farrell said.

The Twins’ majors-worst record fell to 8-23, and this was another wince-worthy performance. No sequence was more exemplary of a sputtering team than in the fourth inning, when Encarnacion hit a seemingly harmless two-out pop-up in front of the plate with two runners on.

Catcher Ryan Doumit never saw it, as if the ball were lost in the faded beige roof the Twins used to play under at the Metrodome before they moved to the open air at Target Field. Marquis crept forward, looking like he figured Doumit would take it — until realizing otherwise and losing track of it himself. Marquis hustled toward the ball was close to position for the catch until hesitating at the last second, when he heard someone else call for it. Third baseman Trevor Plouffe had a late break on the ball but told manager Ron Gardenhire he should’ve caught it.

“When it rains it pours,” Doumit said, “and it’s pouring right now.”

The ball fell between them and bounced on the grass as Escobar raced home to stretch the lead to 6-1.

“It’s not one’s person’s fault. It’s a team effort, and we’ve got to get better at our jobs,” Marquis said.

NOTES: The Blue Jays have won 11 of their last 13 games against the Twins, dating to 2010. … Twins RH P.J. Walters, the latest reinforcement from Triple-A Rochester, will start Saturday night. He said his family was scrambling to make travel arrangements to watch his debut. LF Darin Mastroianni, the other call-up in the latest set of moves, will have to wait a little bit for his loved ones to arrive. His younger brother is graduating from Brevard College in North Carolina this weekend. “That kind of supersedes this, with Mother’s Day coming up,” Mastroianni said. Both Walters and Mastroianni were with the Blue Jays for one game last year.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

The Twins moved Liriano from the rotation to the bullpen and sent Valencia, once a promising third base prospect, to Triple-A Rochester as part of a major shakeup to try and instill some energy and life into a team that has shown very little of either through the first 30 games.

The moves were made after another lackluster performance in a 6-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night.

“We need to make some changes,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “We need some hits. We need some new life in here, the whole package.”

Josh Willingham hit his sixth homer of the season, but Carl Pavano (2-3) was knocked out of the game before there was an out in the fifth inning. He gave up five runs — four earned — and 10 hits in his shortest outing of the season.

Ervin Santana (1-6) gave up two runs and six hits in 7 1-3 innings for the Angels, getting some run support for the first time in six starts.

The Twins entered the season desperately needing Liriano to assert himself at the top of the rotation and Valencia to give them some power at third base.

But Liriano is 0-5 with a 9.45 ERA in six starts in the final season before he is set to become a free agent. Gardenhire said the team still wants him in the starting rotation, and hopes that the move to the pen will help him regain some of his lost confidence.

“Maybe a couple innings here, a couple innings there, he blows some people away and gets some kind of mojo going,” Gardenhire said. “Then we see if we can get him back in there. We need him as a starter. We told him that. He has the best arm on this team and we need to get him some confidence going, get some quality innings out of him, maybe help us win a few ballgames out of the bullpen right now. Eventually we’re going to need him as a starter.”

Liriano left the clubhouse before the Twins announced the news, but Gardenhire said the lefty took the move in stride.

“Frankie said, ‘Whatever you need me to do,’” Gardenhire said. “He made sure that he told Andy and I that he understood, and that he’s not upset about it, and he wants to help the baseball team any way he can.”

In the meantime, the Twins selected the contract of right-hander P.J. Walters from Rochester. Walters is 3-1 with a 2.70 ERA in six starts for the Red Wings this season. He will start on Saturday against Toronto.

Valencia is hitting .190 with one homer and 11 RBIs. He went 0 for 4 on Wednesday night and said the news didn’t come as a surprise. The 27-year-old Valencia has improved defensively this season, but is slugging just .290 with a .204 on-base percentage.

“Obviously nobody wants to get sent down, but it’s hard not to say I didn’t see it coming because I haven’t been hitting very well,” Valencia said. “I’ve been inconsistent. My defense has been good, but I’m a guy that needs to contribute offensively. He’s right, they’re right. I just have to go down there and work hard.”

The Twins also recalled outfielder Darin Mastroianni, who has played a little second base as well, and designated left-hander Matt Maloney for assignment.

Mastroianni hit just .143 at Double-A New Britain before being promoted to Triple-A, but he hit .346 with two doubles, two triples and 11 RBIs in 19 games for the Red Wings.

“Mastroianni’s been playing the living fire out of the game down there,” Gardenhire said. “They told me he’s the most exciting player down there.”

NOTES: Josh Willingham hit his sixth homer of the season for the Twins and also had a double against the Angels, who took two of three in the series. … Drew Butera was the only other Twins hitter with multiple hits. He had two singles. … Twins GM Terry Ryan said DH Justin Morneau received a cortisone shot in his sore left wrist at the Cleveland Clinic. The plan is for him to take some swings on Saturday. While still early in his DL stint, the Twins are hopeful Morneau will be ready to come off on May 15 and join the team for the eight-game road trip that begins in Detroit on May 16. … The Twins open a four-game series against the Blue Jays on Thursday. Jason Marquis (2-1, 5.40) will pitch Game 1 for Minnesota against RHP Henderson Alvarez (2-2, 2.83).

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Hard to blame, him. It had been quite a while since he had pitched with a run on the board.

Ervin Santana pitched 7 1-3 innings and got some run support from the Angels offense for the first time in his past six starts in a 6-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night.

Santana (1-6) gave up two runs and six hits and Albert Pujols had two hits and two RBIs for the Angels, who took two of three from the Twins. Trout had two doubles, two RBIs and scored twice and Howie Kendrick added three hits for Los Angeles.

“It was great,” Pujols said. “He’s been pitching the ball well. It’s great to give run support to any of our starting pitchers. As competitive as they are, Ervin knew we scored some runs early, but he kept making his pitches, never lost his focus.”

Carl Pavano (2-3) was knocked out of the game before there was an out in the fifth inning for the Twins, who are an MLB-worst 8-22. He gave up five runs — four earned — and 10 hits in his shortest outing of the season.

Josh Willingham hit his sixth homer of the season and also had a double for the Twins, who shook things up after the game by moving struggling starter Francisco Liriano to the bullpen and sending third baseman Danny Valencia to Triple-A Rochester.

“We need to make some changes,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “We need some hits. We need some new life in here, the whole package.”

Angels manager Mike Scioscia was ejected in the eighth inning for arguing balls and strikes with plate umpire Sam Holbrook, but that was about the only thing that went wrong for Los Angeles on Wednesday night.

With Pujols struggling mightily in his first season in the American League, the Angels have been shut out seven times this season. Santana is the first pitcher since 1974 to go through five straight starts where his offense was shut out, according to STATS LLC.

When Trout’s double scored Aybar in the third inning, it was the first time Santana had received a run of support since the third inning on April 8 against Kansas City.

“He felt better, obviously, getting a couple runs,” Scioscia said. “I felt as the game picked up his command got a little bit better.”

Pujols added an RBI single and Alberto Callaspo scored thanks to a throwing error from first baseman Joe Mauer that hit Pujols in the back on his way to second base for a 3-0 lead. Pujols came up a little gimpy on the play, but he quickly shooed trainers off the field and stayed in the game.

Los Angeles tacked on two more in the fifth, getting rocket doubles to the gap from Trout and Callaspo to start the inning and chase Pavano, who has been searching for lost velocity all season long. With a fastball that routinely was clocked in the mid-80s, and an unwillingness to pitch inside, the Angels hitters were able to crowd the plate and hammer the outside corners early and often.

Pavano gave up four doubles and only lasted as long as he did thanks to three inning-ending double plays.

Santana certainly wasn’t blameless for the 0-5 record he carried into the outing. The right-hander gave up 19 earned runs and 10 homers in his first four starts, one of the chief reasons the Angels got off to such a surprisingly poor start.

But he’s gotten progressively better over his past three outings, looking more and more like the reliable 16-game winner he was last season. He’s allowed seven earned runs in 22 1-3 innings over his past three starts.

“It’s not like we’re not going out and trying to score runs,” Kendrick said. “We got shut out yesterday, but we come out today and put up 14 hits. It’s like we’re a completely different offense. Everybody is still not where they want to be at, but we’re close.”

NOTES: Twins GM Terry Ryan said DH Justin Morneau received a cortisone shot in his sore left wrist at the Cleveland Clinic. The plan is for him to take some swings on Saturday. While still early in his DL stint, the Twins are hopeful Morneau will be ready to come off on May 15 and join the team for the eight-game road trip that begins in Detroit on May 16. … Torii Hunter hit into two double plays, and the two struggling offenses combined for five in the game. … Angels LF Vernon Wells made an outstanding catch on a dead run to rob Mauer of an extra-base hit in the sixth. …. The Angels have the day off on Thursday before beginning a big series at Texas on Friday. LHP C.J. Wilson (4-2, 2.61) will pitch his first game against the Rangers on Friday night while RHP Yu Darvish (4-1, 2.54) will pitch for Texas. … The Twins open a four-game series against the Blue Jays on Thursday. Jason Marquis (2-1, 5.40) will pitch Game 1 for Minnesota against RHP Henderson Alvarez (2-2, 2.83).

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

You could see it in his eyes. TC needed a new ride. He needed something that was as environmentally conscious as Target Field yet still fun to ride.

The Pohlad family worked with the guys at Behind Bars Bicycle Shop in NE Minneapolis to hook him up Wednesday night with a new ride.

Watch Chuck and Cory of Behind Bars tell how it all came together.

Special thanks to photographers Aaron Goodyear and Dave Porter who helped shoot parts of this video.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — He’s arguably been the most popular player with the Twins for the last decade, but he’s never been in the starting lineup.

That player, of course, is T.C. Bear and today marks a big day for that smiling bear.

“He’s been wearing this uniform now for 12 years and a month, without ever washing it,” joked Andy Price, senior director of game presentation and broadcasting.

That’s not what makes Wednesday’s game a milestone. It’s the fact the bear has never spent a day on the disabled list.

“There are days when he’s had some bad honey and he’s overcome it,” Price said. “But in seriousness, he’s never missed a game. From the day he debuted through tonight, it’ll be 1,000 straight home games from the Metrodome to Target Field.

“T.C. is a true iron man. He worked a doubleheader last July, and it never got under 100 degrees – plus there was humidity.”

Many wonder how the Twins ended up with a bear as their mascot.

Some believe he’s a distant relative of the Hamm’s Beer logo because Hamm’s was a major sponsor of the Twins for many years.

However, it was kids who picked the mascot. The team was struggling with getting families to games in the late 1990s. After drafting a couple variations of mascots, the Twins let elementary school students vote on their favorite one.

There’s only been one T.C. since his debut on April 3, 2000. He’s one of the most talented mascots in Major League Baseball, too.

“Five times he’s won the All-Star game’s Mascot Home Run Championship,” said Price.

T.C. doesn’t only take swings against mascots, he’s taken on, and beaten, some of baseball’s best during the Twins’ hitting contests during Saturday home games.

“He beat Kent Hrbek one time,” Price said. “Hrbek came out and Greg Gagne in the ’91 reunion. Some of the greats have come to take on T.C. in that contest.”

That infectious smile never leaves his face, spreading the love of the game throughout Twins Territory.

“If you watch him in the crowd, he is a gravitational pull of anyone that’s under 4-feet tall,” Price said. “That smile he has, it never leaves his face. It’s infectious. If you watch the kids, that’s what I love about it, watching the kids smile when we hang out.”

We’re told that when T.C. goes to school visits and other events, kids will often scream louder for him than the players who are on the team.

In honor of his big milestone, the Twins are presenting T.C. with a very special gift at tonight’s game.