Well, it started out okay.
Denard Span hit a home run on the game's second pitch, giving the Twins an early 1-0 advantage. It was a lead that the Twins looked to expand on in the third inning off Mets starter Mike Pelfrey, who had already thrown 50 pitches and was looking at runners on the corners, no outs, Joe Mauer at the plate...
(sound of needle scratching vinyl)
...and that's when Mauer struck out swinging, Justin Morneau hit into a double play, and Minnesota's downfall had begun. Kevin Slowey would get some pitches up in the 4th, surrendering three runs with the help of two errors (one by him, the other from Span), giving the Mets a lead they would not surrender. Final: 5-2.
The Twins did narrow the gap to 3-2 on a fluky lead-off double in the 5th by Nick Punto, who scored on a Span grounder. Slowey immediately gave the run back in the bottom of the inning on sac fly by Jose Reyes, then served up a gopher ball to David Wright an inning later. He finished the night with 5 ER in 6 IP, which wasn't going to cut it on a night when the offense had nothing yet again.
Studs:
- Jesse Crain: 3 outs on 6 pitches in the 7th. Shoot, that's almost worthy of a parade.
- Edwin Jackson: threw a no-hitter against the Rays on about 230 pitches.
- Billy Wagner: notched his 400th major league save and kept the Twins in first place as the Braves defeated the Tigers.
Duds:
- All the other Twins.
- Carlos Zambrano, who is a crazy person.
Noon game tomorrow. Pavstache, you're our only hope.