Twins Vs. Athletics: Minnesota Completes Sweep Of Oakland With 4-0 Win

Don't look now but the Minnesota Twins have gone streaking and this time it's in the right direction. Coming off of a five-game losing streak over the course of two series against Central Division opponents, the Twins managed to complete a three-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics with a 4-0 win at Target Field on Wednesday afternoon.

Francisco Liriano recorded his first win of the season by only allowing three hits over six innings and striking out nine in the process. Left fielder, Josh Willingham was by-and-far the offensive player of the game registering three RBI on two hits, one of which was a two-run homerun in the fifth inning.

Tyson Ross was tagged with the loss, allowing four earned runs on six hits in five innings pitched. The Oakland offense was held to only three hits and failed to register a single hit against Minnesota relievers, Alex Burnett and Jeff Gray.

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Twins Roster: Minnesota Continues To Acquire Players From St. Paul Saints

The Minnesota Twins, after not buying any players from the St. Paul Saints in the Saints' 20 years of existence, have now picked up two since last August.

Their most recent pick up is pitcher Dan Sattler, whose fastball got some Major League attention after the speed guns showed him to have a 98 MPH fastball. The 28 year old will start out in single A Fort Myers, the Twins are hoping they can move him up the ranks quickly and see if he has the stuff to make it in the majors.

The Twins had previously purchased the contract of left handed relief pitcher Caleb Thielbar in August of 2011 from St. Paul. In AA he has a 2-0 record and a 2.25 ERA after he had dominated his stint in Fort Myers.

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Twins Vs. Athletics: Minnesota Goes For Sweep After Two Straight Comeback Wins

Three days ago, the Minnesota Twins had zero comeback wins all season. Monday and Tuesday earned them two straight comeback, one run victories over the Oakland Athletics and now can get a surprising sweep over the A's on Wednesday. Those two losses helped drop the A's to seven straight.

Francisco Liriano will be hoping that the Twins can put together some offense for him as he seeks his first win of the season. He hasn't pitched a game since May 7 after a horrible start to the season that saw him pick up an 0-5 record and an 8.47 ERA. His most recent relief pitching stint against the Detroit Tigers didn't exactly show improvement as he gave up four runs.

Liriano will face the just as unlucky Tyson Ross from the A's, he of a 2-5 record and 5.79 ERA. The question will be, will the Twins or Athletics take advantage of the pitching most? And more importantly, will the two straight comeback wins help the Twins boost confidence to the tune of a sweep and perhaps a better season going forward?

The game will be at Target Field at 1:10 p.m. ET.

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Twins Vs. Athletics: Josh Willingham Walks It Off For Minnesota, 3-2

Trailing 2-0 going into the bottom of the ninth inning, the Minnesota Twins put two runners on and, with two outs, Josh Willingham ended the game with one swing of the bat. It was the Twins' first walk off win of the season.

Before the ninth inning, the Twins' bats could not come up with a big hit with runners on, only collecting five hits despite being walked seven times. But the Twins' pitching helped keep the walk off dream alive by only allowing two runs, both of which came against the bullpen.

Cole De Vries, making his second MLB start, went five shutout innings, but his five walks cut his evening short. The A's took advantage of the Twins' bullpen in the seventh and eighth innings, scoring a run off both Jeff Manship and Brian Duensing.

In the ninth against A's closer Brian Fuentes, Jamey Carroll led the inning off with a single and Denard Span followed by drawing a walk. Things took a turn when Ben Revere failed to get a sacrifice bunt down and Joe Mauer grounded into a force out. With two outs and two on, it looked like the Twins were going to strand runners once again, but Josh Willingham put a 1-0 pitch in the seats for the dramatic 3-2 win.

Entering this series, the Twins were 0-28 when trailing the game going into the eighth inning. They're now 2-28.

The Twins will go for the series sweep on Wednesday with first pitch slated for 1:10 p.m. ET.

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Twins Vs. Athletics Starting Lineups: Minnesota Eyeing Back-To-Back Victories

After rallying for two late runs in the eighth inning to get the better of Oakland on Memorial Day, the Minnesota Twins will set their sights on an elusive two-game winning streak in game two of the series on Tuesday.

The Twins will hope for a better pitching performance from local product Cole De Vries, a 6-foot-1 rookie who starred at the University of Minnesota before finding a home in the minors over the last few seasons. De Vries gave up six earned runs over five innings with four strikeouts in his first career start. More notably, though, he served up three home runs, which is a trend that manager Ron Gardenhire will hope does not continue over into his second outing.

Back in the No. 2 spot for Minnesota after a day off Monday is speedy outfielder Ben Revere, who is hitting .291 this year. The slap hitting/speed combination of Revere and Denard Span atop the lineup continues to pay dividends when Minnesota's trio of Mauer, Morneau and Willingham are all locked-in at the plate.

Here are the starting lineups for game two of the series:

Twins
1. Denard Span - CF
2. Ben Revere - RF
3. Joe Mauer - DH
4. Josh Willingham - LF
5. Justin Morneau - 1B
6. Ryan Doumit - C
7. Brian Dozier - 3B
8. Trevor Plouffe - SS
9. Jamey Carroll - 2B
Cole De Vries - SP

Athletics
1. Jemile Weeks - 2B
2. Collin Cowgill - LF
3. Josh Reddick - RF
4. Seth Smith - DH
5. Brandon Inge - 3B
6. Kila Ka'aihue - 1B
7. Kurt Suzuki - C
8. Coco Crisp - CF
9. Cliff Pennington - SS
Jarrod Parker - SP

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Twins Vs. Athletics: Cole De Vries Tries Again For Win No. 1

The Minnesota Twins will get another look at recent call-up Cole De Vries, who will try to notch his first career win Game 2 of the Twins' three-game series with the Oakland Athletics.

De Vries, who was called last week up amid a series of moves designed to bolster the Twins' maligned rotation, held his own in last Thursday's debut, but there is certainly room for improvement. The 27-year-old righty, who was 1-4 with a 4.24 ERA in the minors before getting called up, pitched 5.0 innings with four K's and three earned runs.

He'll go up against Jarrod Parker, who has been solid all season for Oakland. In six starts, Parker, a righty, is 1-2 with a 3.38 ERA. Six of the 12 runs he's given up on the season came in one start. And while every start of course counts, his ERA sans that debacle is under 2.1.

After Monday's win, the Twins are going for their second two-game winning streak of May. They are 11.0 games behind the AL Central-leading Cleveland Indians and 3.5 games behind fourth-place Kansas City.

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Twins Vs. Athletics: Manny Ramirez '50-50' To Play Wednesday In Minnesota

Manny Ramirez is getting closer to being activated by the Oakland A's. Ramirez signed with the A's during the offseason despite having a 50-game PEDs-related suspension to serve. That suspension expires on Wednesday and he could join the big club immediately rather than getting more tune up time in the bus leagues:

Ramirez was scheduled to play Monday for Triple-A Sacramento, but the Tuesday plan was yet to be determined. The afternoon start in Minnesota on Wednesday would likely require Ramirez to travel Tuesday rather than squeeze another minor league game in. The A's want Ramirez to get his swing in better shape before he's brought up, but Melvin said Monday his struggling offense might prompt Ramirez's immediate arrival.

Ramirez might not be much help for Melvin's offense, though. In nine games with Sacramento, Ramirez is hitting just .250/.314/.564 with no home runs and four runs batted in.

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Twins Vs. Athletics: Minnesota Completes First Comeback Win Of Season, Beats Oakland 5-4

The Minnesota Twins kicked off a three-game home stand against the Oakland Athletics the right way on Monday afternoon as the team put together their first comeback win of the season, topping the A's by a final score of 5-4.

Oakland led the Twins 3-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth prior to the Twins tying up the game at three in the frame. In the eighth, Oakland regained the lead when Kurt Suzuki hit an RBI single into centerfield that scored Jonny Gomes from second. However, the Twins battled back again by putting up two runs of their own in the bottom half of the eighth. Justin Morneau tied the game on an RBI double and then scored what eventually became the game-winning run on a single by Ryan Doumit.

Alex Burnett earned the win for the Twins, while Oakland reliever Ryan Cook was tagged with the loss and Matt Capps picked up a save. The win snapped a five-game losing streak for the Twins.

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Twins Vs. Athletics Starting Lineups: Pitcher Scott Diamond Looking To Reach 4-1 On Season

Fresh off being swept by a rival Detroit Tigers squad over the weekend, the Minnesota Twins can get back on track on Memorial Day with the Oakland Athetics in town for a three-game series.

The Twins will look to lefty hurler Scott Diamond for another quality start in the series opener, as the 25-year-old youngster currently owns a sparkling 1.78 ERA through four starts this season. Diamond has yielded just three walks over 25.1 innings pitched, and has pitched into the sixth inning in each of his starts.

Hoping to provide a bit of a spark offensively for his talent-rich pitcher, manager Ron Gardenhire has decided to elevate reserve outfielder Darin Mastroianni to the No. 2 spot in Monday's order, thereby giving the speedy Ben Revere a day off against lefty Travis Blackley. Revere is hitting .311 against righties, but only .200 against left-handed pitchers this season.

Here are the full starting lineups for Monday's opener:

Twins
1. Denard Span - CF
2. Darin Mastroianni - RF
3. Joe Mauer - C
4. Josh Willingham - LF
5. Justin Morneau - 1B
6. Ryan Doumit - DH
7. Brian Dozier - SS
8. Trevor Plouffe - 3B
9. Alexi Casilla - 2B
Scott Diamond - SP

Athletics
1. Jemile Weeks - 2B
2. Coco Crisp - CF
3. Josh Reddick - RF
4. Johnny Gomes - DH
5. Brandon Inge - 3B
6. Kurt Suzuki - C
7. Kila Ka'aihue - 1B
8. Collin Cowgill - LF
9. Adam Rosales - SS
Travis Blackley - SP

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Twins Vs. Athletics: Minnesota Starts Home Series Against Oakland

The Minnesota Twins will begin a series with the Oakland A's on Monday at Target Field.