Triple Triples

Game 77: Twins 11 (42-35), Tigers 4 (41-35)

Things all seemed to come together for the Twins on Tuesday night.

Nick Blackburn, who was in danger of losing his job with a bad start, pitched well enough to live another day. He didn’t allow a bunch of early runs, and when he did run into trouble he was able to keep it under control. It helped, of course, that his team scored him 11 runs.

Target Field has gotten into this team’s head a bit, but perhaps the 11-run performance will help the hitters to relax a bit. Perhaps the ball doesn’t fly out of the part as easily as a hitter might want, but there is plenty of room for a gap hitter to unload in the park and run for while. Denard Span proved that with three triples, part of his 4-for-4 with five RBI evening.

In total, the home team had 13 hits, eight of which were of the extra-base variety. Jim Thome had another home run, his second in as many nights since he has became essentially an every day player.

More importantly, the team is back on top in the standings, and perhaps can use this performance as an occasion to regain some of its April swagger.

WPA Stars of the Game
1. Denard Span
2. Johnny Damon
3. Miguel Cabrera

Standings (through Tuesday)
1. Min 42-35, 361-313, –
2. Det 41-35, 346-346, 0.5
3. Chi 40-36, 329-334, 1.5
4. KC 33-45, 348-380, 9.0
5. Cle 29-47, 316-391, 12.5