Brewers Beat Blackburn, Sweep Twins
Brewers Beat Blackburn, Sweep Twins
Live1 Total Update since June 24, 2010
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almost 3 years ago Update 0 comments
Blackburn Struggles Again, Twins Swept
For Nick Blackburn, July can’t come soon enough. In the series finale with the Milwaukee Brewers, Blackburn failed to complete four innings for the fourth time in five June starts. The poor outing, combined with a spectacular performance from the Brewers’ ace Yovani Gallardo, helped Milwaukee complete the three-game sweep with a 5-0 victory on Thursday afternoon.
Through the first two innings, Blackburn looked like the pitcher the Twins saw in May, when the third-year pro went 5-0 with a 2.65 ERA. With one out in the third inning, however, Blackburn fell apart allowing two, two-run home runs. In five June starts, Blackburn has now thrown 18 2/3 innings and allowed 36 hits and 25 earned runs for a horrendous 12.36 ERA.
While Blackburn struggled, the 24-year old Gallardo dominated. The young righty scattered five Minnesota hits (four of which were singles), and struck out 12 batters as he had a perfect game through five innings and went the distance to finish off the sweep with a complete game shutout.
With the loss, the Twins fall to 40-32 on the season, and now lead the second place Tigers by just one game heading into the night and the surging White Sox by just 2.5 games. Things won’t get any easier for Minnesota as they head to the East Coast to face the New York Mets, who have won eight of their past 10 games and hold the best home record in all of Major League Baseball.
Notes: Justin Morneau was the one bright spot for the Twins on the day, collecting two of the team’s five hits…Brian Duensing relieved Blackburn, throwing 3.1 scoreless innings out of the bullpen…Jon Rauch pitched a perfect eighth inning.
almost 3 years ago Update 0 comments
Twins Look to Avoid Being Swept
After dropping the first two games of the border battle series in disappointing fashion, the Minnesota Twins (40-31) will look to salvage something in the series finale. Things won't be getting any easier though, as the Milwaukee Brewers (31-40) send their ace to the mound.
Nick Blackburn's month of June hasn't gone well to say the least. With the exception of one seven inning quality start, Blackburn has gone 1.2, 2.2 and 3.2 innings in his three other trips to the mound. Overall, Blackburn has allowed 32 hits and 20 runs in just 15 innings this month for a horrendous 12.00 ERA. He'll look to get back on track against the Brewers, whom he is 1-1 against with a 5.40 ERA in three career starts.
While the Twins hold their breathe and hope for a good outing from Blackburn, Milwaukee is in good position to pick up a sweep and extend their winning streak to four games. With Yovani Gallardo, the Brewers will be sending one of baseball's best pitchers in June to the mound. To this point in the month, Gallardo has allowed just six earned runs in 26 innings for an impressive 2.08 ERA. When the 24-year old righty faced Minnesota at Target Field back in May, he lasted six innings and allowed four runs.
Missed opportunities have been the key for the Twins' offensive in the first two games, as they've left a combined 18 runners on base. With a lineup that likely won't include Joe Mauer, the Twins will look to head to New York on a positive note.
First pitch is at 1:10 CT on FOX Sports North.
Photographs by
Micah Taylor,
clairity, and
Fibonacci Blue used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.
