Deduno Two-Hits Red Sox and I Am A Good Luck Charm as Twins Win 5-0

When you see your starter throw 101 pitches, you expect him to throw 60 to 65 strikes. Samuel Deduno threw 50. Obviously it didn't stop him from being effective. He only struck out one and he did walk four, but everything (okay, ALMOST everything) that was put into play found a glove. Denard Span had to go back to the center field wall for one catch, but that's about as taxing a situation as the defense ran into.

12 balls in play were on the ground, 11 turned into outs. Only one ball that was hit in the air fell in for a hit. Both of those that found grass came off the bat of Adrian Gonzalez.

On the offensive side of the ball the Twins were the kings of two-out rallies as all five runs came with two outs. Denard Span and Ben Revere came through for a pair of runs in the third. Ryan Doumit kicked in a run in the sixth to give Deduno and the Twins a little more breathing room. And finally, Brian Dozier hit a majestic, arching homer over the green monster in the top of the ninth to take the Red Sox feet out from under them and give us our final score.

To be sure, Deduno cannot continue to pitch as he did tonight and get away with it. But this evening it was the perfect mix of an inability to hit his spots while also inducing weak contact from the Boston batters. He was able to squash a couple of threats, including situations with runners in scoring position in the first, fourth, and sixth frames.

Casey Fien pitched a quick seventh, and Glen Perkins followed that up with a pair of perfect innings and a couple of strikeouts to end the contest.

It was a great win! I firmly believe I'm a good luck charm, and will wear my Cuddyer t-shirt again when I head back tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who got involved with the live tweet action tonight, and if you want to see what you missed just head on over.

Studs

Sam Deduno
Denard Span
Ben Revere
Justin Morneau
Ryan Doumit
Danny Valencia
Brian Dozier
Casey Fien
Glen Perkins

Duds

NO DUDS. NICE WIN.