Game 77: Liriano holds out against Cards
Minnesota @ St. Louis (Game 3 of 3)
Francisco Liriano has had a rough season thus far but looked great on the mound against the St. Louis Cardinals by holding them to two runs off four hits in a 6-2 victory.
Liriano pitched seven effective innings and struck out six while getting behind some early run support in the form of a 3-run blast off the bat of Justin Morneau to give the Twins a quick 3-0 lead. Jason Kubel would knock in another run in the third with a two out RBI single to score Brendan Harris.
Liriano retired the first 11 batters he faced before giving up a walk to Albert Pujols. The Cardinals wouldn’t get a hit off Liriano until the fifth inning when they get three hits off three pitches, two being back-to-back doubles, to put two runs on the board. Liriano would retire the next three batters to get out of the inning with the lead intact.
The Twins extended their lead in the seventh on a sacrifice fly from Brendan Harris. Harris would also knock in another run with an RBI single in the ninth. With the lead firmly in grasp, the Twins would turn the game over to the bullpen, which had their share of rough moments.
Jose Mijares pitched in the top of the eighth and gave up a four pitch walk to start the inning. Matt Guerrier would replace Mijares and gave up a double and another walk but was able to prevent the Cardinals from scoring.
R.A. Dickey pitched in the ninth and gave up a pair of hits and a walk before Joe Nathan was summoned to the mound to close out the game with two outs. It would take Nathan a total of four pitches to get Skip Schumaker to strike out swinging to finish the game and pick up his 19th save of the season.
The game concluded interleague play for the season with the Twins going 12-6 against National League teams.
Attendance: 42,705 (Busch Stadium)
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