MINNEAPOLIS — A division title secured, the Minnesota Twins are not letting up.
The Twins rested most of their regulars and beat the Cleveland Indians 5-1 Wednesday behind the pitching of Nick Blackburn to complete a three-game sweep.
Minnesota, which clinched its sixth AL Central title in nine years late Tuesday, started the day one game behind the New York Yankees for best home record in the league.
“With home-field advantage still at stake, these guys are going to play,” Twins Manager Ron Gardenhire said. “It doesn’t matter who I put out there, you’re going to get a great effort. That’s the way is around here. ... I expect that of all of them and I think they expect that of themselves.”
Blackburn (10-10) became the sixth Minnesota pitcher to reach 10 victories, allowing 1 run and 5 hits in 7 innings.
Jose Morales drove in three runs and Alexei Casilla had three hits for Minnesota, which has won nine of 11 and improved its record at Target Field to 52-25. The Twins have sold out 74 consecutive home games at their new ballpark and set a season home attendance record with 3,063,327, topping their 1988 mark.
Carlos Carrasco (1-1) allowed 3 runs and 6 hits in 6 innings for Cleveland, which lost its 90th game.
Gardenhire said Francisco Liriano will get the start when Minnesota opens the AL Division Series.
“He’s been winging it pretty good,” Gardenhire said.
Liriano is 14-8 with a 3.44 ERA in 29 starts, including 6-1 in his past 10. The left-hander will have six days’ rest between his final regular season and first playoff starts.
Carl Pavano is scheduled to pitch Game 2, followed by Brian Duensing. Blackburn will be the fourth starter if the Twins use a four-man rotation.
“I’m not going to be mad if I don’t make the rotation, I’ll just be disappointed in what led up to me not being there,”said Blackburn, who retired his last 13 batters, getting his final one when he stopped Chris Gimenez’s grounder with a foot and threw to first.
“To be able to come back and throw the ball the way I am right now is definitely big for me, a good confidence builder. It kind of reminds me that I can be successful at this level and get guys out,” he said.
Blackburn was 1-6 with a 10.05 ERA in 10 games before his July 30 demotion. He has pitched at least seven innings in six consecutive starts since being recalled from Class AAA Rochester, allowing 10 earned runs in 45 2 /3 innings. Opponents are hitting .213 against him in that stretch.
“In the first place, you have to pitch with confidence and he’s doing that,” Gardenhire said. “His changeup came back to him and he used it a lot when he was down there. That gave him a good feel.”
Blackburn gave up all five of his hits in the first two innings, including Shelley Duncan’s RBI single in the first. Blackburn struck out Jayson Nix with two on in the first, and Drew Sutton hit into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the second.
“The whole story in the series was basically that we struggled offensively to push runners across the plate and give our guys some breathing room,” Indians Manager Manny Acta said. “We didn’t do that and they showed why they won the division.”
Minnesota went ahead in a three run sixth on RBI doubles by Morales and Matt Tolbert followed by Ben Revere’s run-scoring single off Carrasco. Morales added a two-run single in the seventh off Aaron Laffey.
“I tried to be a little bit more perfect. When I do that, everything is up,” Carrasco said.
Morales played first base for the first time in his major or minor league career, and looked as though he’d been there for a long time when he made two diving stops.
“They were hard hit,” he said, grinning wide. “There was just no time to think, I just had to react.”
WHITE SOX 4, ATHLETICS 3
Mark Teahen hit a go-ahead double with two outs in the ninth right after pinch-hitter Mark Kotsay’s tying RBI single and visiting Chicago rallied past Oakland to end a season-worst eight game skid. Chicago snapped its longest September skid since dropping nine consecutive games from Sept. 14-23, 1976.
RAYS 7, YANKEES 2
Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria hit consecutive home runs and visiting Tampa Bay feasted on a fallible New York bullpen after a long rain delay took some of the luster out of a key September game for a victory over the Yankees. Dan Johnson hit his third home run against New York in a week, and the Rays’ bullpen outpitched the pinstriped relievers to help Tampa Bay pull within 1 1 /2 games of New York in the AL East. Tampa Bay improved to 9-8 in the season series - the first tiebreaker should the teams be equal after 162 games - with one game to go.
MARINERS 6, BLUE JAYS 3
Jose Lopez hit three home runs, Michael Saunders added a two-run home run and visiting Seattle beat Toronto.
RED SOX 6, ORIOLES 1 David Ortiz hit a three-run home run and drove in four runs, John Lackey (13-11) ended a career-worst four-game losing streak and host Boston avoided a three game sweep with a victory over Baltimore.
TIGERS 4, ROYALS 2 Miguel Cabrera’s leadoff single started a three-run fifth inning and host Detroit held on to beat Kansas City.
National League BREWERS 13, REDS 1 Craig Counsell and Corey Hart homered and host Milwaukee routed Cincinnati. Cincinnati’s surge toward the playoffs hit a bump when Johnny Cueto (12-6) had his shortest start of the season and Aaron Harang, normally a starter, left the game after being hit in the leg by Rickie Weeks’ liner. Harang had a bruise on his right ankle.
CUBS 2, GIANTS 0
Randy Wells pitched 7 2 /3 innings and Kosuke Fukudome homered to lead host Chicago to a victory over San Francisco.
MARLINS 7, METS 5
Wes Helms had two of his three RBI in a five-run first inning, Dan Uggla drove in a pair of runs and host Florida held on for a victory over New York.
NATIONALS 4, ASTROS 3
Danny Espinosa hit a go-ahead, two-run home run in the seventh inning and a triple, and Michael Morse added a home run, helping host Washington beat Houston.
PHILLIES 1, BRAVES 0 Roy Oswalt and a pair of relievers combined on a one-hitter and NL East-leading Philadelphia beat Atlanta for their 10th consecutive victory, increasing their lead over the Braves to six games. Raul Ibanez hit an RBI double with two outs in the eighth inning for the only run.
PIRATES 11, CARDINALS 6 Charlie Morton pitched effectively over six innings to win for the first time in 4 1 /2 months, Pedro Alvarez homered and drove in four runs and host Pittsburgh defeated St. Louis.
Wednesday’s games NATIONAL LEAGUE Philadelphia 1, Atlanta 0 Washington 4, Houston 3 Pittsburgh 11, St. Louis 6 Florida 7, NY Mets 5 Chicago Cubs 2, San Francisco 0 Milwaukee 13, Cincinnati 1 Colorado at Arizona, (n) San Diego at LA Dodgers, (n) AMERICAN LEAGUE Minnesota 5, Cleveland 1 Chicago White Sox 4, Oakland 3 Detroit 4, Kansas City 2 Tampa Bay 7, NY Yankees 2 Seattle 6, Toronto 3 Boston 6, Baltimore 1 Texas at LA Angels, (n)
Sports, Pages 17 on 09/23/2010