Twins Beat The Cardinals

Justin Morneau

On Sunday, at Busch Stadium, it was Justin Morneau’s show as he homered in the top of the first inning to power the Twins to a 6-2 victory. Fransisco Liriano started for the Twins and pitched well to pick up his fourth victory of the season.

Morneau hit his seventeenth home run of the season off Joel Pineiro in the top of the first inning. Morneau went 1 for 4 in the game with three RBIs. Jason Kubel was the only other Twin to record an extra base hit with a double. Kubel went 3 for 4 in the game. Joe Mauer went 2 for 5 in the game with a run.

Fransisco Liriano pitched seven innings, and gave up the game’s only two runs. Liriano also struck out six, and walked two. Liriano lowered his ERA to 5.62 with today’s win. Jose Mijares, Matt Guerrier, and R.A. Dickey came in relief of Liriano. Joe Nathan recorded his nineteenth save with only pitching one-third of an inning. Nathan struck out the only batter he faced.

For the Cardinals, Joel Pineiro lost his ninth game of the season to push his record to 6-9. He gave up three runs, and struck out two, but walked none. Trevor Miller, Josh Kinney, and Blake Hawksworth came in relief of Pineiro.

Rick Ankiel, and Jason LaRue recorded the Cardinals only RBIs of the game. Ryan Ludwick, and Ankiel scored the Cardinals only runs of the game. Albert Pujols, Ludwick, and Ankiel all had the Cardinals only extra base hits of the game. Ankiel also stole his first base of the season. Pujols went 1 for 3 in the game with walk, and a double.

The Minnesota Twins go to Kauffman Stadium on Monday to face the Kansas City Royals. Nick Blackburn(6-3) takes the hill for the Twins, while Luke Hochevar(2-3) takes the hill for the Royals.