Royals 1, Twins 0: Liriano Strong, Twins Offense Not So Strong

Francisco Liriano turned in another strong outing for the Twins today, but ultimately his one earned-run over six innings was just too much for the Twins offense to overcome. Kansas City's HOFer Bruce Chen mowed down the Twins lineup, allowing only four hits over seven innings and successfully picking off Brian Dozier without having to try ten times. Chen was later mysteriously pulled from the game having only thrown 88 pitches, which allowed a 9th inning rally when Josh Willingham and Justin Morneau reached base with one out. Then, however, the Royals reached the non-Willingham/Morneau part of the lineup and, um, well, yeah.

The coolest part of the game was when Francisco Liriano struck out four batters in the 4th inning. (This happens when one of the strikeouts ends on a wild pitch and the runner is still able to reach base. The "AJ Pierzynski" if you will.). The only other Twins pitcher to strike out four in an inning is Scott Baker, who did so against the Brewers in 2008.

A funny thing happened in the 5th inning when the Kansas City grounds crew replaced the third base and got ready to rake the field before realizing there were two outs instead of three. Yes, the Twins are so bad I am including this as a highlight in the game recap.

Studs and duds after the jump.

Studs:

• Francisco Liriano #1: 6 IP, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K.
• Francisco Liriano #2: 0 IP, 0 ER, 0 BB.
• Brian Dozier: 2 for 3, nice defensive plays, only Twin to reach base more than once.

Duds:

• Denard Span: 0 for 4, 3 SOs.
• Whoever Updates the Gameday at Kauffman Stadium: Fell asleep after Billy Butler grounded out in the 3rd inning, didn't wake up until three or four innings later.
• The M Hats: Making me start to think that whether the Twins wear M or TC hats actually makes no difference on the team's performance.