Twins 2, Angels 6: Minnesota Sends Valencia to Triple-A, Calls Up Mastroianni

Tonight's game wasn't good for the Twins, much like many (most...) of the games they've played this season. Carl Pavano had his shortest outing of the year so far, only going four innings, giving up 10 hits, 5 runs (only 4 of those earned, thanks to a Joe Mauer throwing error in the third), and only striking out one batter. While Pavano has been a decent solid pitcher for the Twins in the past, tonight was clearly not a good night for him, but the bullpen was able to step in and cover for the starting pitcher, as they've had to do many times in 2012.

Alex Burnett and Brian Duensing came in to try and salvage the game, and for the most part, succeeded. Burnett pitched two innings, gave up four hits and one earned run, and Brian Duensing came in to finish the game, pitching a solid 3 innings with no hits allowed and just one walk.

Twins offensive offense and big roster moves after the jump.

Ervin Santana had what lots of people probably predicted to be a good night. He'd gone 0-6 on the season before facing the Twins, and as the story seems to tell this year, was able to turn things around with a quality start tonight. Santana went 7.1 innings, giving up 6 hits and just 2 earned runs--one, a Josh Willingham bomb in the 6th inning, the other a Danny Valencia RBI groundout in the 5th--while walking 3 and striking out 1. Five of the Twins players in the starting lineup would have an 0-fer night: Brian Dozier, Joe Mauer, Danny Valencia, Erik Komatsu, and Jamey Carroll. Because baseball is a funny game, Drew Butera went 2-for-3. Josh Willingham also had a nice night at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a home run and run scored.

The big news came after tonight's game was over, however, as the Twins sent Danny Valencia back to Rochester, calling up Darin Mastrioanni in the process (I'm certain of the crack team TT editors will have something more useful about him for you soon). Not ready to stop there, they also decided to send Francisco Liriano to the bullpen and DFA'd Matt Maloney. More on all of that, I assume, later as well.

Studs
-Alex Burnett and Brian Duensing
-Josh Willingham

Duds
-Can I just say the whole team? Yes? Okay, cool. Everyone else.