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Twins blast A's behind Mauer, Morneau

Fri 29th, August 2008

Oakland, CA (Sports Network) - Kevin Slowey tossed six dominant innings while Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau had five and four hits, respectively, as Minnesota steamrolled Oakland, 12-2, in the second installment of a four-game series.

Mauer drove in four and scored a run while Morneau doubled twice and scored two runs with an RBI. Jason Kubel and Denard Span each added a pair of RBI for the Twins, who had lost five of six coming into the game.

Slowey (11-8) allowed a two-run homer, one of six hits, while fanning 10 and walking one. The 24-year-old right-hander has won his last four and five of his last six decisions, surrendering two runs or less in six of his last seven outings. Craig Breslow earned his first career save with three spotless innings in relief of Slowey.

Minnesota moved to within a half-game of the first-place White Sox in the AL Central and remained 2 1/2 games behind the Red Sox in the Wild Card standings with the victory. Boston topped Chicago, 8-0, earlier Friday.

Dan Meyer (0-3) was shelled for six runs -- two earned -- on four hits and two walks in just 1 2/3 frames in taking the loss. Jack Cust hit a two-run home run in defeat for the A's, who were coming off back-to-back wins for the first time since July 10-11.

"They (Mauer/Morneau) got more hits in one game than I have in two weeks. They're smart hitters and they put the ball in play a lot," Cust said of the Twins tandem.

Minnesota's six-run second frame knocked Meyer from the game. Back-to-back doubles from Morneau and Kubel opened the barrage and plated a run. Delmon Young reached on an error and Brendan Harris walked to load the bases for Alexi Casilla, who looped an RBI single to shallow left.

"My effort level was way too much. It was like quicksand. The harder I tried the quicker I sank," Meyer said of his abbreviated outing. "My ball started elevating. Giving up six runs in the second inning, that's not going to get it done."

Carlos Gomez popped up for the first out, but Span drew a walk to force in another run. Meyer was eventually chased by Mauer's two-out, two-run single and Kirk Saarloos came on to give up an RBI single to Morneau before getting out of the inning.

"I haven't felt that great at the plate the last couple of weeks," Mauer said. "Today I tried to get back to the basics and hit the ball up the middle."

Cust's two-run homer in the fourth got Oakland on the board but the Twins came right back with a pair of runs in the fifth on a Kubel sacrifice fly and a run-scoring single from Harris to make the score 8-2.

The Twins added a three-spot in the seventh, extending their lead to 11-2 with RBI singles from Gomez, Span and Mauer. Mauer then knocked in Gomez with a double off the left field wall in the ninth for the final tally.

Game Notes

The Twins tied the season series at four games apiece with the win...Minnesota is 4-5 thus far on its 14-game road trek...Saturday's scheduled starters are Francisco Liriano (4-3) for the Twins and Dallas Braden (4-3) for the A's...Cust's fourth-inning blast was his 24th of the season...Oakland has not won more than two games in a row since June 13-17 when they won four straight...Casilla was 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI for Minnesota...The Twins' 20 hits were a season-high and concurrently it was the most hits allowed by the A's this season...Mauer's five hits matched a career high.

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