"I can't remember seeing him a whole lot better than that," catcher Mike Redmond said of Slowey. "You could just see it in his face that he was locked in. It's fun to catch guys like that."
That's the way it was. Every time Kevin Slowey needed a strikeout, his fastball and breaking balls had movement and were always located at the knees or lower. He threw 84 of 114 pitches for strikes, and while the umpire was definitely giving the pitchers the strike at the knees, a strike is a strike. It was a beautiful night for Kevin Slowey and the Twins offense, who more than supported their starter with seven runs.
Going into the bottom of the ninth leading 7-0, Ron Gardenhire made a solid decision by allowing Slowey the opportunity to go out and nail down a complete game shutout. Victor Martinez, Trafis Hafner and Shin-Soo Choo led off the inning with three consecutive singles to load the bases though, and Luis Ayala came in to lock it up.
The middle of the lineup did their jobs tonight. Minnesota's three through seven hitters had 12 of the Twins 15 hits, combining to go 15-for-24 (.625) on the night.
We'll break down Slowey's gem a bit more on Sunday night. In the mean time get out the brooms, because it's time for a sweep this afternoon!
Stars of the Game
#3: Delmon Young (3-for-4, R, RBI)
#2: Jason Kubel (3-for-5, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI)
#1: Kevin Slowey (8+ IP, 1 R, 7 K, 0 BB)