Athletics 8, Twins 2: Diamond Beat Back Into Coal

Even though the Twins won the first game of this series, it feels like they've been swept. But that's what happens when you get spanked 18-3 in game two and then don't show up in the finale either.

This afternoon, Scott Diamond was making his initial bid to get back into Gardy's good graces. When it comes to spring training and deciding who's going to make up that five-man rotation, apart from Kyle Gibson and Kevin Correia it's all up for grabs. Two or three good starts to end the season would have worked wonders on Diamond's stock in the eyes of his manager.

Whoops.

Diamond got through the first two frames, facing the minimum and getting through those six batters on just 23 pitches. Then game the third inning and the dam broke. Six batters in a row broke through, with the finishing move being a two-run triple off the bat of Yeonis Cespedes three pitches after Rick Anderson had come out to give Diamond a few words of advice. Whatever he said, it didn't work. To be fair it was a crush by Cespedes on a pitch that was off of his shoe strings, but still. If Diamond threw it, it was hit hard.

That inning was more than enough. Oswaldo Arcia would put the Twins on the board with a solo homer in the seventh, and Alex Presley singled in the eighth to add one more run, but the name of the game today was a lot of sub par pitching by Minnesota and a lot of great hitting by the Athletics.

Bullet Point Highlights

• The Twins were outscored 29-9 in the series.
• The A's hit .357 in the series, while Minnesota hit .219.
• Presley's 1-for-4 afternoon means he's hitting .340/.380/.469 since his arrival. He's struck out nine times in those 11 games and walked three times, but as long as his batted balls keep finding grass I don't think those things will matter too much.
• Anthony Swarzak and Brian Duensing couldn't keep the A's off the board today, either. Duensing in particular didn't look good today.
• Between Wednesday night's implosion and today's fiasco, the only reliever who pitched well was Shairon Martis. Two scoreless appearances during the perpetual crap storm of Oakland offense these last two days should make him an All-Star.