Minnesota Twins defeat Oakland Athletics 9-5 – MLB Update
Minnesota Twins beat the Oakland Athletics 9-5 on Friday, July 29 at O.co Coliseum. The Twins had a rather belligerent commencement of the three-game series with the victory.
Twins were assisted both by their strong defence and equally aggressive offence that ultimately earned them the victory. Francisco Liriano went for seven strong innings and Michael Cuddyer hit this season’s 16th homer to rout the Athletics.
Of the last four games that the Twins have played, the victory on Friday was third, underscoring the unshakable resolve of the team to perform better in the second half of the season.
Twins’ offence sparked in the very first inning when Gio Gonzalez was dispatched by the Oakland Athletics to pitch. Jason Kubel hit a big two-run RBI, enabling the team to get an early lead. However, that did not continue for long as the Athletics responded
back.
Josh Willingham hit a two-run homer against Liriano to level the score. Both starters of their respective teams then went for shut-out second inning which was only followed by Michael Cuddyer’s RBI single that he drove in the third inning, giving the Twins
a 3-2 lead.
While Liriano was able to pitch a scoreless third and fourth, compounding the difficulties of the Oakland Athletics, Trevor Plouffe added to the woes of Gonzalez with his fifth inning single that took the lead to 4-2. The inning was exhilarating owing to
the three hits that were witnessed.
Liriano remained solid and strong with his unplayable pitches while the Twins’ offence saw an upward trend with their hits. One of which came in the sixth inning with Ben Revere’s single, giving the Twins a comfortable 5-2 lead.
While the game was favouring the luck of Minnesota, Liriano executed the seventh inning with characteristic fashion, pitching another shut-out inning in the seventh, allowing only two runs all this while.
Trevor Plouffe hit another single against Michael Wuertz to take the lead to 6-2 when Michael Cuddyer hit the 16th homer of the season, leading his team-mates with the most hits so far in 2011. His homer gave the Twins an irreversible lead of
9-2 by the end of the eighth inning.
Willingham was the second hitter on Friday to hit a homer. His hit brought the Twins’ lead down to 9-5, but Alex Burnett pitched a wonderful ninth inning, making it a shut-out to win the team their first win of the three-game series.
The Twins put in a tremendous performance as they managed to restrict the Athletics’ offence. Having scored an emphatic victory, it will be interesting to see how the Twins maintain their ascendancy in the series in the remaining two games.
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