Minnesota @ Seattle preview
T-Mobile Park
Last Meeting ( May 31, 2010 ) Minnesota 5, Seattle 4
The Minnesota Twins showed why they might be tough to unseat from atop the AL Central following Monday's 5-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners.
The Twins (31-20) tied their season-high by winning their fifth in a row and there seems to be no reason they can’t run the table in this four-game series, which continues Tuesday when the right-hander Nick Blackburn (6-1, 4.28 ERA) faces left-hander Jason Vargas (3-2, 3.12).
The Mariners again showed why they went 8-19 in May and are moving closer to being an afterthought in the AL West following their third straight loss.
In addition to having the majors’ best hitter in first baseman Justin Morneau, who raised his average to .377 by going 3-for-4 with two doubles Monday, the Twins got a quality start from Francisco Liriano (5-3). The hurler allowed three runs on eight hits and had seven strikeouts in six innings.
Delmon Young hit a two-run homer and double off Doug Fister and is 6-for-14 in his past four games.
The Twins also showed versatility as veteran right fielder Michael Cuddyer, who had not played second base since 2005, stepped into the middle infielder spot for Orlando Hudson, who injured his wrist Sunday against the Texas Rangers.
The Twins expect Hudson to rejoin them Tuesday, but manager Ron Gardenhire said he is unlikely to play until this weekend at the earliest.
Cuddyer, who earlier had an RBI single, and Jason Kubel hit homers on consecutive pitches in the fourth inning against Fister, who entered as the American League leader in ERA and had allowed just two homers in 62 innings. Those homers gave the Twins a 5-1 lead and although Fister retired 11 of the final 12 batters he faced, the damage was done.
The Mariners got back in the game and had a rally going in the ninth when Jose Lopez hit a leadoff double and scored on a single by Josh Wilson, who had three singles and is batting .300. Pinch-hitter Ken Griffey Jr. was safe on a grounder, but pinch-hitter Casey Kotchman grounded into a game-ending double play and a Twins killing.
The close-but-no-cigar ending was typical for the Mariners in May. Seattle (19-31) entered the month just one game under .500 (11-12) and one-half game out of first place in the West. They leave it 12 games under .500 and eight games out.
The Mariners are 6-13 in one-run games - the worst mark in the major leagues.
Just when the Mariners appeared to turn the corner by winning three in a row last week, they suffered back-to-back walk-off losses to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and saw their most consistent pitcher get roughed up early Monday night.
After the game, Seattle designated right-handed relievers Kanekoa Texeira and Jesus Colome for assignment and recalled relievers Sean White and Garrett Olson from Triple-A Tacoma.