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Twins edge the A's again, 4-3
By Morris Phillips June 5, 2010 |
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After a pair of painful, one-run losses to Minnesota, the up-and-down A’s are again dealing with downs, having dropped five of their last seven games. The A’s battled back late--for the second night in a row--as Adam Rosales tripled in a pair of runs to tie the game in the eighth inning. But the Twins answered right back, with a run-scoring single from Tom Tolbert off Brad Ziegler to regain the lead in the top of the ninth. Just a week after the A’s jumped back in to first place in the AL West, their recent slump has landed them in third place, behind the Rangers and the surging Angels. And what’s worse, they were reminded how precious it is to have a healthy, dominating lefty in your starting rotation. Just one day after the A’s placed Brett Anderson on the disabled list with his troublesome elbow, the A’s got an up close and personal look at Francisco Liriano, whose elbow problems in 2006, forced him to travel the long road back to brilliance. The lefty from the Dominican was 12-3 that year when his elbow problems led to Tommy John surgery forcing Liriano to miss the entire 2007 season, and spend the last two seasons attempting to regain his dominant form. Liriano struggled in 2008 and spent a huge chunk of that season in the minors. In 2009, he lost 13 ballgames. But this year, he appears completely back, and he showed the A’s as much on Saturday. In seven innings, Liriano struck out 10 and walked only two batters while allowing five hits. His fastball registered in the low 90’s, which he threw along with a bitting slider and an effective change. Then after 101 pitches and just seven innings, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire removed Liriano for the pitcher’s sake and manager’s conscious. “We don’t push it with him at all. We know what he’s been through and we know with that elbow and everything. I think he’s thrown 110 pitches once this year and (pitching coach Rick Anderson) Andy and I get really, really nervous when it gets up there. As with all of our pitchers, we’re going to protect ‘em so that we have the same pitcher in August and September.” The decision cost Liriano a chance at a win as reliever Jesse Crain allowed hits to three of the five A’s he faced. But with Rosales on third base, Twins’ reliever Alex Burnett came on to retire Daric Barton to end the Oakland rally. In the ninth, A’s manager Bob Geren made the rare choice to intentionally walk hot-hitting Justin Morneau with the bases empty and one out. Morneau leads the AL with a .372 average and had two hits and a homer against the A’s on Friday, but he came to the park Saturday with a balky stomach and a serious flu. But Morneau assured Gardenhire he could pinch-hit, despite having little control of his bodily functions. Had Geren known how sick Morneau was, he may have elected to challenge the slugger, but the result, after Morneau was removed for a pinch-runner, was a game-winning rally starter. “Just had to get him off the field after that,” Gardenhire said. “Didn’t want to see a grown man go to the bathroom in his pants on the field.” As so often happens, pitchers don’t always get back to throwing strikes after an intentional walk. In this case, Ziegler walked Nick Punto and then the A’s failed to double up the speedy Denard Span after a grounder to short. With runners at first and third and two out, Twins’ utility man Tolbert singled up the middle against Ziegler, breaking a 1 for 11 personal skid and giving the Twins a lead. Trevor Cahill pitched wonderfully again, following a 4-1 May with a quality start in his first June appearance. The young righthander pitched six strong innings, but allowed Delmon Young to break a 1-1 tie in the sixth, with a bases loaded single. Burnett picked up the win for the Twins, and big Jon Rauch got the save, his 15th. Once again, four runs seems to stand as a magical line dividing winners from losers, as the A’s lost for 24th time in 27 games where they’ve scored three runs or less. On the flipside, the Twins won for the 29th time in just 34 occassions where they’ve scored at least four runs. On Sunday, the A’s turn to Gio Gonzales to return the team to winning form. The Twins will counter with Nick Blackburn. |
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