Nick Blackburn reaches double digits as Minnesota Twins crush the Indians, 5 – 1 (Part 1)
The Minnesota Twins have been on a road to excellence. With the team picking up the American Central League title on Tuesday, it came as no surprise that the ball club was going to their home stadium, ‘Target Field’, fielding a reserve roster. Their encounter against the Cleveland Indians entered the final game in the three match series and the purpose, most believed, was to enforce a clean sweep victory. The home team rested most of their hitters for the day and what the management was looking for was a way to groom the remaining squad members. The other purpose behind the decision circled around evaluating players for replacement considerations in the playoffs.
The Cleveland side had been on a good run before the series loss to the new Central Champions. Their objective of the game was to clinch a win to avoid a clean Twins sweep of series. The team had been successful against the Kansas City Royals and the Los Angeles Angels in their earlier contests but their run came to an end yesterday. For a team that has been tailing the Kansas City Royals in the Central Division table, victories are important and necessary.
The side needs the wins to climb the table and with games coming up against the Royals, the Detroit Tigers and the Chicago White Sox, the task seems to get harder, day by day. In order to avail that target, manager Manny Acta has been on a tough routine to keep the players in good shape, match after match. The goals have been set and last night marked a first attempt at a hard lined effort based win. Unfortunately, that never came as Minnesota beat the underdogs, 5 – 1.
The Indians had Carlos Carrasco on the pitching mound for the match. The 23 year old right hand player has featured in 5 games this season and prior to the start of the game, Carlos had a win in just one game. With no losses to his name, the fixture represented a great chance for the ball thrower to register his second victory before the upcoming games. The novice however, faced a harsh Twins hitting faction and his 6 innings of play saw 6 hits and 3 runs. He managed to strike out 4 hitters and decrease his Earning Runs Average (ERA) in 91 pitches but gave away 3 walks in the process.
The Twins clinched their 6th division title on Tuesday and did it in the 9 years that saw manager Ron Gardenhire take over the side. The ball club started the 163rd fixture with one win behind the New York Yankees for the league’s best home record. The hosts were facing the Indians in front of a crowd of 40,139 fans in the stands of the Target Field. A sixth pitcher was used in the contest and Nick Blackburn had been selected to translate the success of the club to the next game. The expert ball thrower played his starting 24th game of the season and he was on the verge of a 10th match winning performance.
Nick was instrumental in the Twins win and he made the Indians reel in desperation. The pitcher lowered his ERA to 5.23 and availed the 10th winning feat with some stunning and dazzling pitching. The ball thrower allowed just 5 hits and 1 run in his 7 inning game. He struck out 2 hitters and managed to throw 89 balls.
For Blackburn the opportunity to be the fourth starter on the playoff roster was up for grabs and the man made his remarks on the chance to be amongst Brian Duensing and Carl Pavano, “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.
He retired his last 13 batters and got his final hitter out when he heeled Chris Gimenez's grounder with his foot and threw the ball to the first. On Blackburn’s pitching exhibition, manager Gardenhire cited the ball thrower’s effort with; "In the first place, you have to pitch with confidence and he's doing that. His changeup came back to him and he used it a lot when he was down there. That gave him a good feel."
Tags: