Blum's clutch homer lifts Astros
MILWAUKEE -- Astros players may want Ben Sheets to someday pitch for their team, but Tuesday night at Miller Park, they beat him.
Geoff Blum's three-run homer off Sheets in the sixth inning broke a tie and lifted the Astros to a 5-2 win over the Brewers before another sellout crowd of 41,622, evening the series at one apiece.
Sheets, expected to be one of the most coveted pitchers in the upcoming free-agent class, has beaten the Astros more times (12) than he has any other team. But a 1-2 pitch to Blum, who wasn't sure if it was a sinker or a changeup, put the four-time All-Star in the loss column for the seventh time this year.
"I was looking offspeed, to be honest," Blum said. "I know it sounds a little weird with Ben Sheets throwing 94, 95 [mph], but in my previous at-bats, he's gotten me out on so many offspeed pitches. We hadn't figured out exactly what it is. ... It's got good depth to it and he just happened to leave it out over the plate and I got a hold of it."
Blum's shot, which landed in the Astros' bullpen in right-center and broke a 2-2 tie, wasn't the only clutch hit from an Astros hitter. Most of the postgame praise was sent in the direction of Michael Bourn, whose two-run triple with two outs in the third tied the game.
"You're down and Sheets is pitching and it looks like he's rolling," manager Cecil Cooper said. "Michael got a big base hit for us with two strikes to get us on the board and get us going a little bit."
Bourn, who lost his starting job to Darin Erstad and has had only four at-bats in the last week, was one of a myriad of left-handed hitters who made it into Cooper's lineup to face the right-handed Sheets. Facing Sheets in the third, Bourn saw four curveballs and a fastball and guessed Sheets was coming at him with another curve. He guessed right.
"I just had a feeling he was going to throw me another curveball," Bourn said. "I didn't know for sure, but I saw it pretty much almost right out of his hand and I tried to wait back as long as I could. You can't really guess curveball, because he has a good fastball. I just saw it pretty good and got pretty good wood on it and got into the right-field corner and just kept running."
Humberto Quintero and Darin Erstad, both of whom set up the inning with base hits, scored easily, and the speedy Bourn reached third in plenty of time without having to slide.
The few scoring bursts off Sheets rewarded Brian Moehler with his ninth win of the year after he allowed two runs, one earned, over 5 1/3 innings.
Moehler felt grateful to have escaped this one with a victory, considering lately, he hasn't felt mechanically sound.
"I was very fortunate tonight," Moehler said. "I made some pitches when I had to. I didn't feel like I was leaving pitches out over the plate, but I was just fortunate tonight. We won. That's all that really matters."
The Brewers struck first, scoring one in the opening inning on an RBI double by J.J. Hardy. They logged three hits in that inning and went ahead 2-0 in the second, after Craig Counsell reached on a fielding error by Lance Berkman and scored on Mike Cameron's double to deep center.
"Moehler kind of bent, but didn't break, and battled them," Cooper said.
The defense played a role in this win as well. With one out and runners on first and second in the fourth, Hunter Pence fielded a base hit by Ray Durham and gunned down Mike Cameron with a perfect throw to the plate, beating the center fielder by several steps.
The Brewers had runners at first and second with two outs in the sixth when second baseman David Newhan made a diving stab of J.J. Hardy's grounder, ending the inning.
"Probably two of the best I've seen this year," Cooper said. "That one by Hunter, that was a great throw. [Cameron is] a pretty fast runner and he got it by a long ways. Good job by Hunter to charge the ball and throw.
"The play by Newhan really saved us. There were a couple guys on, and that ball was hit up the middle. I keep saying every time you stick someone in, they do the job. It's a team effort. We need to continue to do that."
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Astros benefit from Giants' wildness
HOUSTON -- This breakout inning wasn't as dramatic as the power display from the night before, but still, it got the job done.
The Astros scored all six of their runs in the sixth inning, which involved a couple of hits but also a barrage of plunkings and walks that pushed the Astros to a 6-2 win over the Giants before 30,330 fans Wednesday night at Minute Maid Park.
"Opportunistic," manager Cecil Cooper said. "I'll take it."
The Astros sent 12 batters to the plate, but oddly enough, only two recorded base hits. Ty Wigginton led off with an infield single off Barry Zito, who walked Mark Loretta and yielded a bloop single to Miguel Tejada to load the bases.
From there, it was all about fly balls, free passes and hit batsmen. In other words, this rally could not have been more different than their eight-run seventh Tuesday that included two home runs, including a Lance Berkman grand slam.
"I loved it," Wigginton said of Wednesday's parade. "It didn't matter how we got it done, but we found a way, and that's the important thing. It wasn't the prettiest and it wasn't like we were driving balls or hitting the ball hard, but we found a way."
Berkman scored Wigginton with a walk, and Geoff Blum drove in Loretta with a sacrifice fly. Zito intentionally walked Hunter Pence to pitch to Reggie Abercrombie, who lifted a fly ball to center just deep enough to score Tejada.
Zito hit Humberto Quintero to load the bases and issued a walk to Randy Wolf, which scored Berkman. Giants manager Bruce Bochy called for Billy Sadler, who fared no better. He plunked Wigginton and Loretta, keeping the slow-moving merry-go-round the bases alive long enough for the Astros to mount a five-run lead.
Zito pinned his downfall on the walk to Loretta early in the inning.
"You can't do anything about bloop hits or infield hits," he said. "It's on me for walking Loretta. That was the difference-maker."
On walking Berkman: "I didn't want to give in to Berkman. I wasn't really concerned with that walk because as we saw last night he can make it four runs."
Three plunkings in one inning tied the modern-day Major League record for the 35th time.
"How many times have you seen that happen?" Cooper said of the inning in general. "That's why I say, opportunistic. That's what we've done lately. It seems like every time we get a chance to score some runs, [when] we're in a situation where we get an opportunity, we've been able to cash them in. It's a sign of a good team and a sign of a team that's playing well."
The win extended the Astros' streak to seven games and pushed them to two games over the .500 mark for the first time since June 6, when they were 32-30.
Wolf earned his second win as an Astro and improved to 8-10 on the year after holding the Giants to two runs over seven innings. He started the outing with four no-hit frames before yielding a leadoff hit to Fred Lewis in the fifth.
The Giants scored for the first time in the sixth frame, when Randy Winn doubled and scored on a Bengie Molina double. Winn knocked another double in the seventh and scored on Ryan Rohlinger's double, marking the rookie third baseman's first big league hit.
"I think my delivery's getting better each time out," Wolf said. "I think I'm definitely getting more comfortable with [Quintero catching]. That's always big; with the catcher and pitcher relationship, it's very important to be on the same page, and if we weren't, we talked about it right away and moved on."
The Astros are 4-0 in games Wolf has started. In two starts at Minute Maid Park, Wolf has yielded two runs over a combined 12 innings.
Wolf, a former Padre and soon-to-be free agent, said he was glad when he was traded to Houston, because he was anxious to shed the label of only finding success at the pitcher-friendly PETCO Park in San Diego.
"I think it was nice to come here," he said. "[Minute Maid Park] has a reputation of being a good hitters park, but I've always liked pitching here. For some reason, whether it's the background or the mound or those things, I've always enjoyed pitching here."
The Wolf-for-Chad Reineke trade sparked criticism from many who wondered why the Astros, seemingly non-contenders, gave up a prospect for a pitcher with a mediocre record who would likely leave via free agency this winter.
But in his short time in Houston, Wolf has provided innings, taken some of the burden off the bullpen and given the Astros quality outings.
"I've always been a big fan of Randy Wolf," Wigginton said. "Playing against him, you know what kind of competitor he is. Somehow, some way, he's always going to give the ballclub a chance to win the game. He's continued to do that here."
Copyright 2008 Sporting Life UK Ltd, All Rights Reserved.
Pujols, Ludwick slug Cards to victory
ST. LOUIS -- El Hombre put on a show, because in St. Louis, Albert Pujols is the man. And Ryan Ludwick, he tossed in a little bit of flavor to spice up the side.
Putting on a display of some incredibly fine hitting, Pujols and Ludwick made sure the Dodgers heard their names loud and clear every time they stepped up to home plate on Wednesday. By the end of the night, the two combined to go 7-for-9 with two home runs and six RBIs.
Needless to say, it was enough to give the Cardinals a 9-6 triumph over the Dodgers, and now back-to-back wins in the series.
"The best part about it is that we're winning," said Ludwick. "I felt like I had the best seat in the house tonight, following Albert. He looked really good at the plate tonight, and that was fun to watch."
When the words "hottest hitter" are breathed in the same sentence as the Cardinals, the once clear picture of Pujols is now muddled with Ludwick. The journeyman who was plagued by injuries to start his career overcame it all and battled back to appear in the 2008 All-Star Game.
Both players are having supreme offensive years to lead the Cardinals hitters, who needed very little extra help Wednesday night. Ludwick has belted 29 home runs on the year, and Pujols has chipped in 23 more. Both are hitting over .300, and both have driven in at least 70 runs.
"I'll let you guys play with it, play with my numbers," Pujols said. "I don't think about homers, I don't think about RBIs. If it's four, five, three at-bats every night, I'm going to my best. Is that going to happen where I'm going to have great at-bats? Probably no. But I can tell you in my mind, that's what I want to try to do every night."
And while it was more than enjoyable for the fans to see two of their biggest stars perform to their Mount Everest on the same night, the Cardinals still had to worry about the ninth inning.
Not tonight.
Chris Perez trotted in from the right-field bullpen with a backdrop of uncertainty revolving around the closer's role. A night after Jason Isringhausen and Co. blew a 4-0 lead in the ninth inning, Perez entered with the Cardinals up three runs with a runner on second base.
Recalled from Triple-A Memphis prior to the start of the game, Perez used his blazing fastball and devastating sinker to baffle the folks from Chavez Ravine.
Facing six hitters, Perez retired five of them and walked one, striking out two.
"This guy is trying to make his mark," said manager Tony La Russa. "He had Jeff Kent, they had momentum, that's run No. 7 on second base. Then he gets to three outs, and he has the top of the lineup. I think it was a very tough eighth-inning and ninth-inning situation, and he handled it with impressive style.
"Let him fly under the radar screen for a bit."
Added Perez, "That's what I felt like when [La Russa] told me I was going back out there in the ninth -- that this is my chance."
Pitching for his first win since July 8, Joel Pineiro was once again given an early lead, only to squander it right away, leading his manager to think, "Here we go again."
But as Pineiro began to settle down through the help of catcher Yadier Molina, the Cardinals offense began to pick up speed and give him more than a slight cushion.
Pujols doubled in the third inning and scored on Ludwick's single. Ludwick later scored on a single from Molina to tie the score at 3-3. The following inning, Pujols approached the plate with the bases loaded and belted his sixth career grand slam. Ludwick followed with his solo home run. He has hit at least one home run over the past five games, tying a franchise record.
Backed by a 7-3 lead, Pineiro went to work and bailed out the bullpen, lasting seven innings and eventually giving up four runs.
It's better. "I felt like two completely different pitchers there," Pineiro said. "For some reason, it kind of clicked in after that third inning."
The Cardinals found themselves in a slight bit of controversy in the eighth inning, though it did not tarnish a solid all-around effort. Dodgers manager Joe Torre sent Mark Sweeney to the plate to pinch-hit, but removed him for Kent. Because Sweeney entered the box and was substituted, he could not return to the game.
Torre took issue with the call and the Dodgers would play the game under protest, but La Russa believed the umpires made the right decision.
"Once he reaches the box, according to the ruling, he's in the game," La Russa said. "When Kent came up and they announced Kent, then Sweeney was out of the game. ... I don't think there was [a violation], so I think we're good. I'm not going to speculate."
Once again, the Cardinals kept pace with the Cubs and Brewers, staying a half-game behind Milwaukee and 5 1/2 behind Chicago.
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Nats release Lo Duca, Estrada, Lopez
WASHINGTON -- Late Thursday, the Nationals gave infielder Felipe Lopez and catchers Paul Lo Duca and Johnny Estrada their unconditional releases. The team is expected to recall second baseman Emilio Bonifacio from Triple-A Columbus and activated outfielder Elijah Dukes from the 15-day disabled list.
Manager Manny Acta hinted before Thursday's game against the Phillies that changes were coming. He announced that younger players such as Kory Casto would play more often.
The Nationals tried their best to trade Lopez, Lo Duca and Estrada before Thursday's 4 p.m. ET Trade Deadline, but there weren't any takers because they were having subpar seasons. The Nationals will pay over $11 million to the trio this season.
"We are going to turn the page. We are going to get younger the last two months of the season and we are going to continue to develop young players," general manager Jim Bowden said. "We want players that are going to hustle, play the game hard and play the game right. We just feel we need to give younger players an opportunity. We are going to do that."
Lopez, who was acquired from the Reds on July 13, 2006, was a disappointment with the Nationals. After hitting .281 during the second half of '06, Lopez couldn't get his bat going and was shaky on defense. He hit .245 last year and was hitting .234 at the time of his release.
"It's disappointing," Bowden said. "I traded for him twice. I'm a fan of his talent and his ability. It didn't happen here in Washington. I'm sorry for that and I'm sure he is sorry for that. I love Felipe. We just couldn't get the talent out on the field."
There were times when teammates and the front office felt that Lopez didn't play hard, but Lopez denied it. He said he was often frustrated and it showed on the field.
"For people who play this game, it's hard when you struggle," Lopez said. "You roll over a ball and you cuss yourself out down the first-base line. It might seem like I'm not hustling to other people. It's just frustration."
Lo Duca, 36, was having the worst season of his career, hitting .230 with 12 RBIs. His season got off on the wrong foot when he injured his left knee while exercising in a gym last January. Lo Duca started the season on time, but he ended up going on the DL twice with right-hand injuries.
By the time he came back in mid-June, Lo Duca lost his starting job to Jesus Flores. Lo Duca then saw playing time in left field and at first base. At one point, he was the everyday first baseman, but he lost his job on Thursday, when Casto was inserted into the starting lineup.
Lo Duca took the news very well and understands that the Nationals are going into a youth movement. He plans to go home to New York and try to find a job with another team. Lo Duca is aware that the Marlins need a starting catcher.
"When Jim and Manny called me in there, I apologized. I feel bad. I'm a better player than I played," Lo Duca said. "It has been an unfortunate year. I had the knee surgery and just when I started to feel healthy, I broke my hand.
"Kory needs to play. He is the future of this organization as well as Jesus. They need to play. Giving me my release is sort of a class act by them. To give me a chance to hook up with another team is a big-time class act."
Estrada was designated for assignment last week. He had 10 days to be either traded or claimed off waivers.
Estrada, 32, batted .170 with four RBIs in 23 games with Washington. He missed 69 games this season because of a right elbow injury.
The Nationals get even younger with Bonifacio and Dukes on the roster. Bonifacio will now become the everyday second baseman, while Dukes will reclaim his position in left field.
Bonifacio, who will wear No. 6, was acquired from the Diamondbacks for reliever Jon Rauch last week. Bonifacio then went to Columbus and went on a tear. Bonifacio hit .452 (14-for-31) with three RBIs, four walks, four stolen bases and nine runs scored with Columbus.
Dukes is coming back almost four weeks after he hurt his right knee on July 5 against the Reds. He was supposed to be out until late August or early September.
Dukes, 24, went 5-for-15 (.333) with two doubles, one RBI, two walks and a .412 on-base percentage in four rehab starts with Columbus.
With Dukes returning, it means Willie Harris will be back on the bench. Harris proved to be a valuable everyday player. He hit .291 with four home runs and 15 RBIs during the month of July.
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
How sweep it is! Rays unravel Sox
ST. PETERSBURG -- Having acquired a taste for steak, the Rays weren't content to settle for meat loaf on Wednesday night, when they beat the Red Sox, 7-6, to sweep the three-game series.
"Meatloafing" is a good thing for a team, according to manager Joe Maddon, who likes to reference the old Meat Loaf lyric proclaiming "two out of three ain't bad."
But after taking the first two games from the Red Sox, the Rays overcame a three-run deficit in the third game with a six-run seventh inning. During that inning, the Rays sent 11 hitters to the plate while a raucous sellout crowd of 36,048 drowned out the collective voice of a traveling Red Sox Nation like never before at Tropicana Field.
Sweeping the Red Sox "reaffirms to us that we can beat these guys," Maddon said. "Now we need to do it at Fenway."
Completing the sweep gave the home team 13 consecutive wins in the budding rivalry, which will not resume again until Sept. 8, in Boston.
"They took it to us, they beat us three games in a row," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona, whose team has now dropped five straight. "We came here to win. We didn't do a very good job."
The Rays are now 33-13 at Tropicana Field and 29-6 since April 22. After their seventh series sweep of the season, they have a record of 52-32 and find themselves just 14 games away from last season's win total.
Less than two weeks have passed since the Rays rallied in the third and final game of a sweep against the Cubs with a seven-run seventh. Jason Bartlett ignited Wednesday night's rally with a leadoff double against Manny Delcarmen. After stealing second, Bartlett scored on Akinori Iwamura's infield hit to cut Boston's lead to 4-2. Carl Crawford singled to right field to send Iwamura to third and chase Delcarmen.
Craig Hansen entered the game for the Red Sox and promptly walked B.J. Upton to load the bases before walking Carlos Pena to send home Iwamura. Evan Longoria then doubled home two to give the Rays a 5-4 lead and prompt Francona to make another call to the bullpen, this time for right-hander David Aardsma.
"I was looking for what I got," Longoria said. "A ball up over the plate, and that's what I got. The guys don't make too many mistakes in this league, and when they do, you have to do that."
Willy Aybar grounded out to first for the first out of the inning, then Dioner Navarro walked to once again load the bases. Reliever Javier Lopez entered the game and struck out pinch-hitter Gabe Gross, but he couldn't get past Bartlett, who singled home two more runs to put the Rays up 7-4.
"We've got a lot of weapons on this team, and we really don't just slug," Longoria said. "We're not going to hit a ton of home runs in an inning to come back, but we've got speed and a good balance of power. And it just happens that way when you have that combination."
When you're playing the Red Sox, the ninth inning normally determines whether you're eating steak or meat loaf, and the Red Sox made the stomachs of Rays fans churn as they waited to see if the Rays could get the final three outs before the sand ran out of the hourglass and a two-run lead expired.
Manny Ramirez hit a ball to Bartlett to start the ninth, but the shortstop threw wild to first. Mike Lowell followed with a single to put runners on the corners with no outs. That's when Kevin Youkilis hit a drive to deep center field off reliever Dan Wheeler.
Upton gave chase in center field, running down the drive at the wall to make an over-the-shoulder catch that Maddon called "Willie Mays-esque" for the much-needed first out.
"I just knew I had to get it, that was the only thing on my mind," Upton said.
Ramirez scored on the play to cut the Rays' lead to one run.
Then Jason Varitek stepped to the plate. The catcher is in the middle of the worst slump of his career, which might have explained why Francona put on a hit and run. But the strategy backfired, as Navarro threw out Lowell when Varitek swung and missed for strike two.
With the second out in his back pocket and the bases empty, Wheeler finished the job by catching Boston's captain looking at strike three to end the game.
Tropicana Field then exploded, as fans waved brooms and dreamed of October. For Wheeler, who was with the Rays when the team lost in front of sparse crowds, the contrast between then and now is striking.
"There's no comparison, it's unbelievable," Wheeler said. "The thing I liked so much is you're still going to get the Red Sox fans, and that's OK. But I think our fans are starting to come out, and they're starting to drown those fans out, which makes it more exciting."
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Acta regroups troops and then gets win
WASHINGTON -- A few hours before watching his team defeat the Angels, 5-4, on Wednesday, Nationals manager Manny Acta decided to hold a team meeting.
The session, which started around 4:15 p.m. ET, lasted about 40 minutes, and Acta's message was clear to his players: Let's focus and play smart baseball.
Since their three-game sweep over the Mariners in mid-June, the Nationals have played sloppy defense, made mental mistakes and been unable to hit in the clutch. Acta had decided after Tuesday's game -- in which the Angels pounded the Nationals -- that enough was enough.
He also told his players that they can still compete against high-caliber teams -- like the Angels -- even though they've lost Nick Johnson, Austin Kearns and Ryan Zimmerman to injuries.
"We just wanted to make these guys aware that you can't get complacent," Acta said. "We all know that we miss those guys, but still, we are not throwing Independent League players out there, and I thought we were better than that.
"Let's tight up our defense a little bit. ... Since we don't have our three main guys out there, we still should be able to ... hit the cutoff and make routine plays."
Catcher Paul Lo Duca was the only player who spoke up at the meeting. He told his teammates that they need to work hard every night and be thankful that they are in the big leagues.
"I just said you have to respect your teammates," Lo Duca said. "That's nothing against anybody. Take pride in the game. I'm in a situation here where I'm on the bench now. I can't pout about it. Jesus Flores has played well.
"I'm in a situation where if I have to go to another team, I have to go to another team. But I'm still a National. I need to play, and you respect your teammates by playing hard every game. When you are on a losing team, things get magnified. When you don't hustle balls out, you don't do the little things to win ballgames -- they get magnified."
Looking to score more runs, Acta decided to place Flores, 23, in the cleanup spot for the first time in his career on Wednesday -- and for good reason. Flores is second on the Nationals in RBIs, with 28, but team leader Lastings Milledge, who has 30, has had more than twice as many at-bats.
At first, putting Flores at the No. 4 hole didn't work, as he struck out three times in his first four at-bats. But that fifth at-bat made a difference.
With Elijah Dukes on second and reliever Scot Shields on the mound in the ninth inning, Flores took a 2-1 curveball and singled to right-center field to plate the game-winning run.
"That was a great feeling after having bad at-bats before," Flores said. "I tried to calm down because I knew that I swung at a lot of bad pitches. In that situation right there, I prepared myself to look for that pitch. I was glad that he left it there and I drove it to right field."
Acta continues to be amazed by Flores' repeated success.
"He showed in the last year and a half that he doesn't get rattled," Acta said. "He doesn't care about his age, who's facing him or the situation. He has tremendous knowledge of the strike zone for a kid that we got from Class A ball."
As late as the eighth, it looked like the Nationals had the victory wrapped up and were going to give Tim Redding his seventh win of the season.
With right-hander Ervin Santana on the mound for the Angels in the sixth, the Nationals had the bases loaded when Ronnie Belliard came to the plate. He walked on a 3-2 pitch, sending home Dukes.
Wily Mo Pena was the next hitter, and he singled to right field to bring home Milledge.
But the Angels ended up tying the score in the top of the eighth inning off reliever Luis Ayala. With runners on first and second and one out, Casey Kotchman doubled to right field to bring home Erick Aybar.
Ayala was taken out in favor of closer Jon Rauch, who was able to stop the bleeding. He gave up a sacrifice fly to Howie Kendrick, but then struck out Gary Matthews Jr. to end the inning. Rauch ended up with the victory, his fourth of the season
For one day, at least, Acta's team meeting made a difference.
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Twins take series, move to .500 mark
MINNEAPOLIS -- When the Twins left Cleveland last Thursday, the club was admittedly feeling a tad beaten down, having dropped six of seven games at the start of a 10-game road trip.
Four of those six losses had been blowouts, including the final game against the Indians. And there seemed to be questions about just when the Twins might turn things around as they headed to face a hot-hitting Brewers team.
So to predict that the Twins would be back to .500 just six days later might have seemed like a stretch.
But following an 11-2 victory over the Nationals on Wednesday night, that's exactly where the Twins find themselves. Having won four of their last five, the Twins brought their record to 36-36 with their second straight win over Washington.
"Obviously, we had kind of a tough stretch at the beginning of that road trip and came together pretty well at the end," Twins starter Kevin Slowey said. "I think we played very well as a team in Cleveland and the results were there in Milwaukee. I think that's big for us.
"We're a very young team, myself included, and I think it's important for us to have those tough stretches and realize that we still have the talent and still go out and win games."
Slowey himself has played a big part in helping the revival, having delivered his first quality start since May 29 in a victory in Milwaukee before coming home for his start on Wednesday night.
With Slowey holding an 0-3 record and 6.00 ERA in three starts at the Metrodome this season, the hope was that he could turn things around in this start.
And he did, although not in the same way he dominated in Milwaukee.
Slowey delivered his second straight quality start, tossing six innings and allowing just one run. But he found more than his share of baserunners, allowing a total of 13 batters to reach base in his start -- seven on hits.
But unlike previous outings where Slowey (4-6) found trouble getting out of jams, this time he was able to make pitches when it counted. The lone run that he allowed came in the fifth on a solo home run by Felipe Lopez to lead off the inning.
"He'll tell you it wasn't his best performance," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He was yanking some pitches and he didn't hit his spots as well as he has. But that is a sign of maturing also, being able to pitch around some tough spots and not ever getting beat by the big inning. That's what he did."
Slowey was helped by some early run support. The Twins managed to take a 3-0 lead by the end of the second off Nationals starter Jason Bergmann. But mistakes by the Nationals defense didn't help Bergmann (1-5) either as only one of his runs was earned.
Carlos Gomez reached on a bunt to third baseman Aaron Boone in the first and Boone's throwing error allowed Gomez to advance to second. Alexi Casilla's sacrifice bunt moved Gomez to third before he scored on a sac fly to center by Justin Morneau for a 1-0 Twins lead.
The Twins added two more runs in the second. Jason Kubel and Brian Buscher each singled to right, putting runners on first and third. Brendan Harris' double to center field scored Kubel for Bergmann's lone earned run. A fielding error by center fielder Lastings Milledge on the play also allowed Buscher to score.
"You saw us taking bases, some daring base running plays," Gardenhire said. "That's kind of the way we have to play. We have to be aggressive and we were aggressive early. That kind of set a tone."
Following a long sixth inning for Slowey, the Twins sent him out for the start of the seventh. He faced just one batter, Kory Casto, and walked him on seven pitches. And that's when the Twins turned to right-hander Jesse Crain.
"I would have loved to go out there and finish the seventh," said Slowey, who threw just 90 pitches in the outing. "But obviously I wasn't making my pitches anymore and that was that."
Both the Twins and Nationals turned to their bullpens from that point on, but Washington was the team that strggled the most. The Twins offense busted the game open in the seventh and the eighth to tack on eight more runs.
Morneau brought his season total for RBIs to 56 by recording two more, one in the seventh and one in the eighth. And in that eighth, the Twins' lineup batted around tagging right-hander Jesus Colome for five runs and right-hander Brian Sanches for one.
The Twins managed to record a total of 13 hits on the night, which was a welcome offensive resurgence after they did not tally more than five hits in their last two contests.
Defensively, the Twins saw advances as well. Brian Bass gave up back-to-back singles to center to start the bottom of the eighth. But one pitch from Bass nearly erased all the trouble. Paul Lo Duca grounded into a 5-4-3 double play, which appeared, at first, like it might be a triple play.
Buscher got the first out by stepping on third, but his throw to Casilla was a bit high, drawing him off the bag. Casilla managed to right himself and make the throw to first to get the second out.
"I was just glad he got the out at first, to tell you the truth," Gardenhire said. "I know that a triple play is always a gorgeous thing when you get three outs with one ball. But after I saw the throw was up, I was really happy just to see another out."
The Twins have been able to take advantage of better play lately. Their four wins in five games has them sitting just 4 1/2 games back of the White Sox in the AL Central.
But with the team currently in the midst of a stretch that features 15 of 18 games at home, the Twins know that this is the time to take advantage of the schedule.
"We told ourselves to give ourselves a chance, win some ballgames at home and stay close to the teams ahead of us," Gardenhire said. "Try to get through the All-Star break and stay close with the teams around us and we can have a fun second half."
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