It wasn’t an eruption of power, and it had it’s share of bumps in the road, but it was a victory nonetheless.
Ron Gardenhire’s club got hits at the right times last night in their 3-2 series opening win over Philadelphia, and have set themselves up to take just their fourth series since their April 20 two-game sweep of the White Sox.
Justin Morneau got the game winner last night, but is clearly not quite comfortable at the plate, as he is still looking for his first home run since April 28, that power outage spans 168 at bats.
Joe Mauer, who has hit safely in 30 of his last 35 since a 0-21 slump in late April, is expected to be behind the plate for starter Mike Pelfrey (3-6, 6.40 ERA) who continues to struggle in his first year with the club. Pelfrey had his longest outing with the Twins last time out, going 6.1 innings while giving up just three earned runs, notching just his third quality start of the season.
For the Phillies it will be youngster Tyler Cloyd, making just his 12th major league start and sixth of the year. Cloyd has been good in his last two outings, the most recent of which was 6.2 innings of scoreless ball against the Brewers, but then again who doesn’t crush the Brew Crew?
7:10 first pitch from Target Field assuming this one goes on as planned, Twins looking to take tonight’s second game with the tough task of Phillies ace Cliff Lee on the bump tomorrow.
