Twins 10, Mariners 0: Deduno, Offense Bring Twins to Life

While the offense today stepped up huge for the Minnesota Twins, Samuel Deduno's efforts cannot be talked about enough. Deduno went 7 innings, only giving up two hits...and no walks. Not a single one. To top that off? He also struck out nine--9!--Seattle batters. To say that this was the best game he's pitched this year is an understatement. I'm not sure what made his last start and this one so different, but I certainly hope we see more of this Samuel Deduno from now on.

Deduno's pitching tried to be outshone by the offense tonight, which was a nice change of pace, to be quite honest. The Twins combined for 16 hits and 9 earned runs against Seattle's pitching tonight, with a couple of players hitting home runs and that lazy bum Joe Mauer getting 2 RBI on the evening. Josh Willingham hit a solo homer in the fifth inning off Seattle's starter Jason Vargas, while Trevor Plouffe hit his 20th of the year--a 2-run bomb--in the 4th inning, also off Vargas.

Read the rest of the offensive juggernaut the Twins threw out today, as well as studs & duds after the jump!

Minnesota's scoring started in the third, when the wheels began to fall off for Jason Vargas. Trevor Plouffe was walked, Pedro Florimon was walked, then a Jamey Carroll single loaded the bases for none other than Face of the Franchise (TM) Joe Mauer. Instead of grounding into a double play or striking out, Mauer singled to left field, scoring both Plouffe and Florimon. A Justin Morneau single would then score Jamey Carroll, giving the Twins a lead they would never relinquish.

After a fielding error by Justin Smoak in the bottom of the fourth, Chris Parmelee was able to get himself over to second base, though what base he was on would not matter, as Plouffe hit his 20th homer of the year, scoring himself and Parmelee. Twins 5, Mariners 0. The very first batter of the next inning--Josh Willingham--hit his 32 home run of the year to make it 6-0, Twins. The bottom of the second would score the Twins two more runs, and they tacked on an "insult-to-injury" sacrifice fly from Justin Morneau in the bottom of the eighth. Overall, a really excellent day from almost every single Twins player. They got the hits when they needed them, and they definitely had the pitching when they needed it. After Deduno was finished, the bullpen came in in the form of Tyler Robertson and Anthony Swarzak to shut down the Mariners for the rest of the game, and that was all she wrote. Twins-10, Mariners-0, Fans-Happy to see a win again.

Final Lines
Samuel Deduno - 7 IP, 2 H, 0 BB, 0 ER, 9 K (98 pitches, 68 for strikes)
Tyler Robertson - 1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 ER, 0 K (10 pitches, 6 for strikes)
Anthony Swarzak - 1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 ER, 1 K (17 pitches, 11 for strikes)
Twins Offense - 39 AB, 10 R, 16 H, 3 BB, 7 K, 23 LOB
Team RISP - 7-for-16

Studs
-Samuel Deduno. Please feel free to come back in this form at any time.
-Plouffe/Willinghammer. BOOM.
-Mauer/Morneau. M&M Boys keep doing things right like this, 2 RBI each.

Duds
Though I could make a case for Ben Revere, EVERYONE WINS TONIGHT!

Next up:
The Twins take on the Mariners for game 4 of the 4-game series at Target Field at 1:10 pm (daytime baseball!). Throwing for Minnesota will be Brian Duensing, and for Seattle will be Blake Beaven. See you then!