Scott Baker put on DL, James and Diamond promoted

Scott Baker’s right elbow still felt sore today and he wasn’t confident he’d feel good to pitch tomorrow. The team has decided to place him on the 15-day DL but that doesn’t indicate it is serious. The move is retroactive to July 7th so he is eligible to come off the DL on Friday depending how his arm feels. In his place Scott Diamond has been called up from AAA Rochester.

Also, Matt Tolbert has been optioned to AAA Rochester and Chuck James has been called up to be the 13th pitcher on the Twins Roster. In Tomorrow’s double header Swarzak will start game 1 and Diamond will start game 2.

Twins make it 5 in a row

The Twins continued their hot streak against the Tribe and push record to 22-37. Scott Baker went 7 innings allowing 9 hits and 4 runs, 3 of them earned, with 5 Ks. The final score was 6-4 with Mijares making Twins’ fans sweat a little bit after a shaky 8th inning. However, this was mostly caused by a few bad calls by the umpires. The first being a ball called foul at third base after the Twins turned it into a double play. The second was an out at first ruled safe. In the end only 1 run got across the plate and Matt Capps came on in the 9th for his 8th save of the year. Most of tonight’s run support came from Matt Tolbert. He finished the game 2 for 4 with a run and 2 RBIs. Check here for the Yahoo! box score. I really encourage looking  at the box score as you can see how Gardy tinkered with the lineup. Basically he kept Ben Revere at leadoff like yesterday but put Span batting 3rd, Cuddyer 4th, and Morneau 5th. Our first 5 ended 3 of 20 with 2 runs and no RBI. It will be interesting to watch if Ron goes with that lineup tomorrow when Liriano (3-5) returns from the DL to face off against Carrasco (4-3).

As always check out our Twins page and get an updated injury report.

Twins win 6-0, sweep Royals

It is a sad state of affairs when a sweep of the Royals have Twins’ fans excited. Duensing managed 8 scoreless innings and had Matt Capps come in the 9th to complete the shutout. Jason Repko was the standout performer collecting half of the Twins’ RBIs with another 2 coming from Matt Tolbert. This has been the M.O. against the Royals this series; strong pitching and unlikely performers. I am sure at this point Gardy is taking whatever he can get. The Twins will now head to Cleveland to take on the team with the American League’s best record and current AL Central leader Indians. The 3 game series will mark the end of a 10 game road trip and then the Twins will return home to face off against the hard-hitting Texans. Lets hope some of the young Twins players can carry some of this confidence against the Royals into Cleveland and manage a 6-4 road trip. To take a closer look at today’s game check here for the Yahoo! box score. I think another name worth mentioning is Alexi Casilla. He has strung together a few strong games, including today, and lets hope it becomes more of a norm for him.

 

• As always check out our Twins team page for news, schedule, and updates on the Twins injury report.