Doumit, Revere Lead Twins to 5-4 Victory

Ryan Doumit, Ben Revere and a stalwart Twins bullpen keyed a surprising victory for Minnesota Friday night, as they edged the NL Central-leading Reds 5-4.

Both Doumit and Revere went 4-for-4 on the night, with Doumit finishing a triple short of the cycle. After Nick Blackburn dug the Twins yet another early hole by allowing a 2-run homer in the first, Doumit keyed the first Twins run with a bloop double that advance Trevor Plouffe to third, with Plouffe later scoring on a Brian Dozier groundout. Revere scored a total Ben Revere run to even the score in the second: infield hit, advance to 2nd on throwing error, steal third, score on sac fly.

Doumit gave the Twins a brief lead with a solo home run in the 4th, his seventh of the season. Blackburn immediately gave it back in the bottom of the frame on another 2-run homer, this one from Scott "Still Playing Baseball" Rolen.

The Twins went ahead for good with a rally in the top of 6th, thanks once again to Doumit, who led off the inning with a single and scored the tying run a bases-loaded walk by Denard Span, and Revere, who lined a sacrifice fly to right to plate Jamey Carroll.

The Twins pinch-hit for Blackburn during the rally (Joe Mauer walked), so he "only" gave up four runs on 69 pitches. After that, it was another solid performance on balance by the Twins bullpen. The "on balance" qualifier is due to a rough outing for Jeff Gray, who loaded the bases in the bottom of the 6th, but Alex Burnett tallied the final two outs of the inning without allowing a run, then threw a 1-2-3 7th. Jared Burton followed that up with a 1-2-3 8th, and Glen Perkins, while allowing a couple singles, wriggled out of the jam with back-to-back strikeouts of Zach Cosart and Chris Heisey to end the game.

Studs: Doumit, Revere, Burnett, Burton.

Duds: there were probably a few, but it was a good win. I say we celebrate. Also, I need to get to the liquor store before 10:00.

Enjoy your weekend, everybody.