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Kansas City Killing: Twins pulverize Royals, 19-1

Danny Valencia celebrates with three thrilled-looking teammates - a good look for a first inning.

More photos » Charlie Riedel - AP

Danny Valencia celebrates with three thrilled-looking teammates - a good look for a first inning.

What if the Twins played a baseball game where everything went right?

The Twins scored six runs in the first inning off of Royals starter Zach Grienke, highlighted by a dramatic two-out grand slam by rookie third baseman Danny Valencia, and won a 19-1 laugher in Kansas City. Valencia had four hits, including two doubles, and became the first player in Twins history to open his home run account with a grand slam. Joe Mauer, not to be outdone, blasted a three-run homer and had five hits on the night, his fourth career five-hit game.

When the dust cleared, Mauer had driven in seven runs, Valencia four, the pair had scored seven runs, the team had 20 hits overall, and the thousands of Twins fans in attendance were pretty much alone in Kaufmann Stadium.

Almost forgotten in the hail of hits was Francisco Liriano, who tossed seven shutout innings, giving up only three hits and no walks along the way while striking out six. Liriano gave up a leadoff double to Scott Podsednik, pitched around it, and ran into virtually no trouble thereafter.

Delmon Young also went 4-6 with two doubles, Alexi Casilla had two hits including a first-inning RBI triple and drove in three - the only Twins starter who failed to get a hit was Jim Thome, who went 0-3 with a walk and two strikeouts. One imagines that Thome just didn't want to rub things in any further.

This was Minnesota's hundredth game of the year, and it truly turned out to be a one-percenter; you could watch the Twins for five more years and not see another game in which so many things went so right.

On the other hand, Anthony Slama did give up a run in the ninth inning. So I guess there's always room for improvement.

Star-divide

Studs: Valencia and Mauer and Young and Liriano especially, but when you win 19-1, everyone gets to be a stud.

Duds: Duds? It was 19-1!

Twins vs Royals coverage

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That was a slaughter

Let’s do that against the WSux…again.

"Don't take life for granted, because tomorrow isn't promised to any one of us." -Kirby Puckett
Minnesota Twins 2010: GAME 163 OR BUST!!!

by less cowbell, more 'neau on Jul 26, 2010 11:20 PM EDT reply actions  

Releasing some pent up agression

maybe this is finally the players saying enough complacency lets go for the throat.

by holymackerel on Jul 26, 2010 11:21 PM EDT reply actions  

Awesome game but let’s hope our bats don’t fall of the cliff in our next game.

by TC Mooch on Jul 26, 2010 11:23 PM EDT reply actions  

Baby Jesus scores a touchdown.

-And raises his average 10 points.

-Flip

by Flip27 on Jul 26, 2010 11:23 PM EDT reply actions  

Kinda sad I missed the majority of this game.

Sounds like it was really fun to watch.

The Pavstache will own you.

by fischean on Jul 26, 2010 11:23 PM EDT reply actions  

You should have been there

Oh, btw, y’all should probably donate to the send archie2227 to opposing teams ballparks fund. We know we want to see that happen again. Kauffman is a pretty damn nice stadium I must say.

by archie2227 on Jul 27, 2010 1:05 AM EDT up reply actions  

Ahhh, I've wanted to go to the K for a long time.

It looks like a beautiful park.

The Pavstache will own you.

by fischean on Jul 27, 2010 11:00 AM EDT up reply actions  

We had a great time

Of course it was 2-0 when we stepped out of the (very nice) Royals Hall of Fame. We did get to see the Valencia slam in the standing room area in LF. The game was over before I found my seats.

by DJL44 on Jul 27, 2010 5:08 PM EDT up reply actions  

Great performance today.

Hopefully we can play like this all the time.

by funnytrain on Jul 26, 2010 11:28 PM EDT reply actions  

That was awesome!

I have to say I am the reason Joe Mauer had such a great night, because last night I put up the new Mauer poster up in my room. Then tonight he goes 5 for 5. Coincidence? I think not.. so go ahead and thank me ; )

In all seriousness, tonight’s game was very entertaining.

Great outing by Liriano, along with great performances at the plate by Valencia, Mauer, & Delmon.

by taralynn09 on Jul 26, 2010 11:36 PM EDT reply actions  

Typo

I meant to say “I put up the new Mauer poster I bought up in my room”

by taralynn09 on Jul 26, 2010 11:38 PM EDT up reply actions  

you bought the poster in your room?

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by fetch9 on Jul 27, 2010 12:23 AM EDT up reply actions  

No

I bought a Mauer poster the other day. Last night I put it up on the wall in my room. Does that make more sense?

by taralynn09 on Jul 27, 2010 12:58 AM EDT up reply actions  

Not Really

A one bed apartment would be a good example of a poster store. The poster display at Wal-Mart takes up about a quarter of a percent of floor space compared to the other departments.

by Jessy S on Jul 27, 2010 2:59 PM EDT up reply actions  

Thank you

but at the first sign of a slump, put up a different one

"Baseball is the only major sport that appears backward in a mirror" ~George Carlin

by thewild_viking_twins on Jul 27, 2010 12:03 AM EDT up reply actions  

Yeah

or I could just take it down all together.

by taralynn09 on Jul 27, 2010 12:09 AM EDT up reply actions  

Uh...well...

I received an authentic All-Star Game Joe Mauer jersey from my dad and grandfather, who attended the game, so it could be because of ME that he had this momentous evening.

by MarshalltheIrish on Jul 27, 2010 2:21 AM EDT up reply actions  

As George Foreman once said

This could be the most one-sided fight since 1973 when Ali faced an eighty-foot tall mechanical Joe Frazier. My memory isn’t what it used to be, but I think the entire Earth was destroyed.

by Hjorvarthr on Jul 26, 2010 11:36 PM EDT reply actions   1 recs

+1

Hahaha

by d-mac on Jul 27, 2010 8:17 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions  

Dan Haren

got hit in the arm by a come-backer tonight and had to leave the game

"Baseball is the only major sport that appears backward in a mirror" ~George Carlin

by thewild_viking_twins on Jul 27, 2010 12:02 AM EDT reply actions  

looking at the box score:

delmon young wishes he hadn’t hit 4th. looks like mauer stole all his rbi’s when you go 4-6 and only have one rbi :D

by twinscrazy_german on Jul 27, 2010 12:10 AM EDT reply actions  

seriously

It’s a shame our RBI leader couldn’t get more than 1 RBI out of 19. But he’s been getting the RBI’s when we need them and we didn’t tonight.

Glad to see him go 4-6 still and add two more doubles. His .328 is 2nd in MLB for an outfielder and he and Joe are now tied (with Evan Longoria) for 4th in the AL in doubles.

by Cobra312004 on Jul 27, 2010 1:59 AM EDT up reply actions  

yikes at that score

That place was for diehard sports fans. I only follow my team when they're in the playoffs" - Homer Simpson
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by bestbostonsports on Jul 27, 2010 1:48 AM EDT reply actions  

Just what Mauer needed?

5-5 with 7 RBI’s? I don’t think we’ll see Joe bunting with runners in scoring position anytime soon.

by Cobra312004 on Jul 27, 2010 1:52 AM EDT reply actions  

I was amazed when I saw the score

And I swear, I keep telling myself the Twins are “coming together” for good after every amazing game: Kubel’s Slam in the Bronx, the Miracle in Philly, the Rally Against Jenks…and I’ll just say it again. I hope this win is where they hit their stride. Everything went right!!!

by MarshalltheIrish on Jul 27, 2010 2:23 AM EDT reply actions  

Baseball is a cruel game.

We had everything go right in one game.
Now we have to have the downside of everything going wrong the next 4.
Hopefully thats not the case.

by PanthersFTW on Jul 27, 2010 2:34 AM EDT up reply actions  

way to pee on our collective toast!

why not be suzy sunshine and tell us this is the start of 50 – 0 streak and LNP will ride out to his position on top of a unicorn?

by caluofmn on Jul 27, 2010 10:20 AM EDT up reply actions  

+1

for unicorn usage.

It's such a fine line between stupid and clever.

by SteadyDietOfCheese on Jul 27, 2010 4:03 PM EDT up reply actions  

Rough Draft

Education in Sierra Leone is bad. Woo hoo, Mauer!

"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

by BeefMaster on Jul 27, 2010 9:51 AM EDT up reply actions  

that would have to be pretty big font

to hit the min. page count for the paper, but let’s face it who hasn’t messed w/ font size and paper margins at the 11th hour?

by caluofmn on Jul 27, 2010 10:22 AM EDT up reply actions  

A win for the reinforcements

Repko and Valencia weren’t on the team until July and June respectively. Casilla was a seldom-used pinch runner on the team because he had no options. They have done well and led the way in this blowout victory. Let’s hope these three guys and the rest of the team can sustain some of this momentum.

by Alexi Casilla All-Star on Jul 27, 2010 6:13 AM EDT reply actions  

I tuned in just in time to see Danny V hit the grand slam

Sweet.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Jul 27, 2010 9:39 AM EDT reply actions  

power!

That’s what we’ve been looking for. I think he took Punto’s job last nite.

by wcooley on Jul 27, 2010 10:14 AM EDT up reply actions  

Kudos to Liriano

It is difficult to keep your edge sitting in the dugout that long between innings. He was fantastic. Danny Valencia exploded but the headlines were all about Mauer. That’s okay, don’t want the rookie to feel too important.

by DJL44 on Jul 27, 2010 5:11 PM EDT reply actions  

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