Twins pull it together in extra innings

Coming into Tuesday, the Twins were 0 for their last 10 against the Toronto Blue Jays which dates back to July 23, 2007. The Twins have been outscored 30-69 in that same time period. In fact, the last time the Twins beat the Blue Jays, Carlos Silva served up a meatball to Frank Thomas who had hit his 500th career home run at the Metrodome on June 28th, 2007.

But all that changed last night.

-->Twins on the Hill<--

Glen Perkins gave the Twins eight strong innings, the second time this season (in two starts) in which he's thrown eight innings. He allowed only two runs on seven hits while walking one and striking out four. Perkins on the year now has a 1.69 ERA through two starts, by far the lowest ERA amongst any Twins starter.

Joe Nathan threw the ninth inning before handing the ball over to Jesse Crain who pitched both the 10th and 11th inning, eventually being crowned the winning pitcher. Crain had an epic 12 pitch battle with outfielder Adam Lind, which ultimately resulted in a strikeout. Crain was working his fastball between 93-95 MPH with 74% of them crossing the plate as strikes (14 of 19 fastballs thrown).

-->Twins at the Dish<--

The Twins didn't quite rack up 13 hits like they did the night before, but they did collect double digit hits for the third time this season. The team has a total of 77 hits on the season, 23 of which have come in just the last two games.

The Twins had three players with two hits in the game, regular contributors Denard Span and Justin Morneau as well as newcomer Joe Crede all combined for seven of the Twins ten hits. Both Morneau and Crede drove in runs, although Crede's is the one people will remember as it came in the bottom of the 11th inning which proved to be the winning run. Crede drove in Morneau from first base with a double to give the Twins their first victory against the Blue Jays and snapped a potential four-game skid that the Twins don't want to have this early in the season.

Prior to the contest, the Blue Jays only had one batter (Rod Barajas) not hitting above .300. The Twins on the other hand only had two who were hitting above .300 (Span and Nick Punto). In fact, the Twins had four batters hitting belowe the Mendoza line prior to the game.

-->Next<--

Scott Baker will come off of the disabled list to make his first start of the season against Scott Richmond of the Blue Jays tonight at the Metrodome. The roster move will likely send Brian Duensing to Triple-A Rochester while the Twins likely hang onto long-reliever R.A. Dickey for now.

The start will be Richmond's first against the Twins while this will be Baker's third start of his career. Baker is 0-1 with a 3.72 ERA against the Blue Jays in 19 1/3 innings pitched.

-->Game Ball<--

April 14, 2009 vs. Toronto Blue Jays
Glen Perkins - Starting Pitcher
Line: 8 innings pitched, 7 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts