Nick Blackburn sparks as Minnesota Twins overpower Seattle Mariners, 4-2: MLB Update
Minnesota Twins’ starter, Nick Blackburn had a remarkable day with the ball as he pitched throughout the game and made six strike-outs in the club’s 4-2 victory against the Seattle Mariners at Target Field, Minnesota, on May 24.
Blackburn threw nine innings with an ERA of 3.20 and gave away just two runs on seven hits including two earned runs. He allowed no walk on his 127 pitches. Blackburn said of his game tactics, “I knew they were (unavailable). They didn't specifically come
up and tell me that, but even if they were to tell me that it wouldn't have changed anything in my game plan.”
The Twins got off the mark in the first inning as they took a 1-0 lead when Jason Kubel singled to right-field and Denard Span scored a run. The pitchers threw the ball in a perfect line and length to restrict the runs. Alexi Casilla posted one run on the
sacrifice hit of Matt Tolbert and the Twins were on top with 2-0 at the end of third inning.
During fourth inning, the Mariners contributed two runs to tie the game 2-all. Miguel Olivo struck a solo homer (391 feet) to centre field spot and Justin Smoak scored a second run. The fifth and sixth inning went score-less for both the sides due to impressive
throws of the pitchers.
The Twins broke the tie runs and went ahead 4-2 during seventh inning when Rene Rivera scored on the balk of Doug Fister and Casilla posted second run on the drive of Span. Olivo made an error and Span moved to third base in no time. In the eighth and ninth
inning, the pitchers raised the momentum of their teams by giving no run.
The Twins’ Manager, Ron Gardenhire, was amused with the pitching abilities of Blackburn. He said, “We're always concerned with the pitch count, but his ball was still sinking and he still had a great breaking ball. We needed that and he gave us what we needed,
a big performance and a complete ballgame.”
On the other side, Fister was expensive as he pitched 6 2/3 innings with an ERA of 3.18 and permitted four runs on nine hits with four earned runs. He was able to strike-out six batters on his 113 pitches.
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