Twins win sixth straight, go up by 5 1/2
September 9, 2010
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)—Brian Duensing(notes) allowed one run and struck out seven overeight innings and the Minnesota Twins continued an impressive run of successagainst Kansas City ace Zack Greinke(notes) with a 4-3 victory Wednesday night tocomplete a three-game sweep.
Series at a Glance Kansas City 4 Minnesota 5 Mon, Sep 6 – Final Kansas City 3 Minnesota 10 Tue, Sep 7 – Final Kansas City 3 Minnesota 4 Wed, Sep 8 – Final
Duensing (8-2) allowed six hits and dropped his ERA to 2.02. J.J. Hardy(notes)homered and Denard Span(notes) added a two-run triple for the Twins, who have won sixstraight games to take a 5 1/2 -game lead over the Chicago White Sox in the ALCentral.
Greinke (8-12) fell to 0-4 with an 8.18 ERA against the Twins this season.He allowed four runs and five hits with four strikeouts and three walks in eightinnings.
The Royals scored twice in the ninth off Matt Capps(notes) on a groundout fromBrayan Pena(notes) and a single from Alex Gordon(notes). But Capps got pinch-hitter MitchMaier(notes) to fly out for his 11th save in 13 tries.
Duensing, who was moved from the bullpen to the rotation on July 23 to takethe place of the struggling Nick Blackburn(notes), has allowed one earned run or fewerin four of his last five starts.
Greinke was mowing down the Twins through 4 2-3 innings, getting eightgroundball outs and two strikeouts while Kansas City went ahead 1-0 on a singleby Pena in the second.
The reigning AL Cy Young winner had two walks and the Twins got anotherbaserunner on an error by first baseman Wilson Betemit(notes), but Greinke didn’t allowa hit until the Twins had two outs in the fifth.
Greinke walked designated hitter Jose Morales(notes), who was filling in after JimThome(notes) was scratched with a mild abdominal strain. The Twins jumped on the nextthree pitches they saw from Greinke, getting a single by Hardy, an RBI-single byMatt Tolbert(notes) and a two-run triple from Span to take a 3-1 lead.
It was the second straight start that Greinke had taken a no-hitter into thefifth inning. Last time he took a 4-0 lead into the seventh against Detroitbefore allowing four runs in a no-decision.
The Twins just seem to have his number. They entered the game hitting .365with 16 earned runs in 14 innings against one of the best pitchers in theAmerican League.
“Nothing you do against Zack Greinke is easy,” Twins manager RonGardenhire said before the game.
The Twins just make it look that way.
NOTES: The Twins honored injured 1B Justin Morneau(notes) (concussion) before thegame as the team’s nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award, given annually to theplayer who displays excellence on the field and in the community. Morneau hasn’tplayed since July 7 but said before the game he is optimistic he will returnthis season. … Royals 1B Billy Butler(notes) had further X-rays on his right handWednesday. Just like the initial test on Tuesday night, they showed a bruise andno break. Manager Ned Yost said he hoped Butler would be ready by Friday. …Twins setup man Brian Fuentes(notes) was taken for an MRI on his back. He has pitchedjust 1-3 of an inning since being acquired from the Angels.
