Twins Reinstate Alexi Casilla, Option Jeff Manship

Infielder Alexi Casilla was placed on the disabled list back on June 1st with elbow soreness. Shortly after, Casilla had surgery to remove bone spurs. Nearly seven weeks following his assignment to the disabled list, Casilla has been reinstated to the Twins’ active roster.

Twins optioned RHP Jeff Manship to Rochester after today’s game and activated INF Alexi Casilla from the DL.

In 29 games this season (only 39 official at-bats), Casilla is hitting .256 with a .370 on-base percentage. Manship, who is headed back to Triple-A, threw two scoreless innings in his short stay with the club.

Twins Avoid Sweep, Beat Indians 6-0

(Sports Network) – Francisco Liriano pitched seven shutout innings, and the Minnesota Twins avoided their first home sweep of the season with a 6-0 win over the Cleveland Indians.

Liriano (8-7) allowed six hits and walked four while fanning eight to improve to 3-0 against the Indians this season, sporting a 1.29 earned run average in 21 innings. The lefty has now won both of his second-half starts after going 0-4 in his last five outings before the All-Star break.

J.J. Hardy hit a two-run double, while Michael Cuddyer went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored for the Twins, who have won four of six. Delmon Young added RBI No. 65, 66 and 67 of the season with three hits in the victory.

Chris Gimenez doubled for the lone Indians extra-base hit, as Cleveland had a season-best six-game win streak snapped. It was the first loss for the club since the All-Star break, the longest the Indians have gone to begin the second half without a loss.

Jake Westbrook (6-6) allowed four runs, six hits and five walks in six frames to take the loss.

The Indians threatened several times in the early innings, but it appeared their luck had run out.

Cleveland put the first two batters of the second inning on base, but Shelley Duncan grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, preceeding Trevor Crowe’s inning- ending strikeout.

The visitors then had runners on first and third with two outs in the third, but Carlos Santana fanned to end the inning, and the Twins scored four times in the home half.

Drew Butera doubled leading off, and Orlando Hudson reached on a one-out walk. Young sent an RBI double down the left field line, and Jason Kubel was intentionally walked to load the bases.

Cuddyer made the Indians pay for the decision, singling to left to score Hudson. Young was thrown out at home on the play, but Hardy contributed with his two-run double before Westbrook got out of the inning.

The Indians loaded the bases in the fifth with one away, but Jayson Nix grounded into an inning-ending 1-2-3 double play, and Matt LaPorta lined into a double play to end the sixth.

In the seventh, Cleveland had runners on second and third with two outs, but Liriano struck out Asdrubal Cabrera to keep the shutout intact. Young’s two- run single in the eighth off Jess Todd accounted for the final margin, as Jesse Crain and Anthony Slama finished off the whitewash.

Slama made his major league debut…Santana had a streak of 15 straight games reaching base snapped…Gimenez’s hit extended the Indians’ streak of games with an extra-base hit to 44, the AL’s longest active stretch…Twins manager Ron Gardenhire tended to a family matter and was not present at the game. Third base coach Scott Ullger managed the team Wednesday…Minnesota announced that Brian Duensing will take Nick Blackburn’s place in the rotation on Friday…Hudson has a 10-game hit streak.

Twins Take On Cleveland, Look To Avoid Sweep

(Sports Network) - One of the American League's worst teams during the season's first half, the Cleveland Indians, have suddenly become one of baseball's hottest clubs since the All-Star break. The red-hot Tribe will attempt to lock down a seventh straight victory and record a three-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins when the two AL Central inhabitants face one another today at Target Field.

Cleveland has won each of its first six contests of the second half, its longest win streak since a seven-game tear from September 15-22, 2008. The surge has come against pretty good competition as well, as the Indians won all four meetings with contending Detroit before their back-to-back bestings of the defending AL Central champion Twins.

"We're playing really good baseball," designated hitter Travis Hafner said after last night's 4-3 victory over Minnesota. "Our starting pitching has been really good, and our bullpen has been lights out. It seems like we're able to get some key hits, a lot of two-out RBI."

Hafner came up with a big hit on Tuesday, an RBI double off Twins reliever Jose Mijares (1-1) in the top of the eighth inning that snapped a 3-3 deadlock. Joe Smith then held Minnesota scoreless in the bottom of the frame before closer Chris Perez finished off the win with a 1-2-3 ninth.

Minnesota had knotted the score at 3-3 on consecutive run-scoring singles by Denard Span and Orlando Hudson in the seventh. Both hits came against Rafael Perez (3-0), who came on in relief of Indians starter Justin Masterson and wound up with the win despite failing to protect his team's lead.

Masterson was charged with three runs allowed over 6 1/3 innings and struck out seven batters in an otherwise-solid performance. Shelley Duncan had a two- run single for Cleveland, with both Hafner and rookie catcher Carlos Santana collecting a pair of hits on the evening.

Minnesota is tied with the Tigers at 3 1/2 games behind Chicago for first place in the AL Central after Tuesday's setback. The Twins had won three straight meetings with the White Sox over the weekend prior to this series.

Coming off very encouraging last start, Francisco Liriano will attempt to enable Minnesota to avert a series sweep when he takes the mound this afternoon.

Liriano recorded four losses and a no-decision over a rough five-start stretch to finish out his first half, while compiling a poor 6.75 earned run average during that period. A few extra days of rest seemed to benefit the talented southpaw, however, as he returned to the win column with a sharp performance against the division-leading White Sox this past Friday.

Chicago managed just two runs and six hits in 7 2/3 innings against Liriano, with the Minnesota hurler registering eight strikeouts in the 7-4 verdict. The strong effort lowered the Dominican native's ERA to 2.83 in nine starts at Target Field, where he's posted a 4-3 record thus far at the first-year park.

In his final outing prior to the break, Liriano was rocked for seven runs in 1 2/3 innings of a July 9 defeat at Detroit.

The 26-year-old owns a 4-3 mark with a 3.61 ERA over 10 career appearances (eight starts) against Cleveland, and bested the Indians twice earlier this season. In an April 21 clash at Target Field, Liriano fired eight scoreless innings in leading the Twins to a 6-0 win.

Jake Westbrook gets the call for Cleveland today and like Liriano, had a successful showing in his first start after the All-Star break. The veteran righty held Detroit to two runs and struck out five batters through 5 2/3 effective innings on Friday for his fourth victory in six decisions.

After making a mere five starts over the past two seasons due to Tommy John surgery, Westbrook has put up decent numbers for the last-place Indians and drawn interest from contending teams as the trade deadline approaches. The 32- year-old improved to 6-5 with a 4.67 ERA in 19 starts with Friday's result.

Westbrook will be facing the Twins for the first time since the 2008 campaign today and is 7-9 with a 3.62 ERA in 23 career encounters (17 starts) with Minnesota.

These divisional foes have now split eight overall matchups so far in 2010, with the Indians having won three of the five games played between the clubs at Target Field.