The Minnesota Twins' bullpen, as has been their propensity for much of the 2011 season, completely fell apart in the opener of their doubleheader against the Cleveland Indians. The Tribe scored six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning after Twins' starter Brian Duensing was pulled to pace them to an 8-2 victory on Saturday afternoon.
Cleveland got on the board first, thanks to Shelly Duncan's two-run double in the bottom of the first to give the Indians an early 2-0 lead, but the Twins fought back. They got a run in the top of the fourth when Danny Valencia scored on a wild pitch by Indians' starter David Huff, and a single run in the top of the sixth when Valencia scored again on a double by Trevor Plouffe, tying the game at two going into the bottom of the sixth.
Then, the Twins pulled Duensing and brought Francisco Liriano in to relieve him. Here is how Liriano's afternoon went.
-Walk to Jason Kipnis
-Walk to Carlos Santana, Kipnis to second
-Hit Travis Hafner with a pitch, loading the bases
-Sacrifice fly by Duncan (Kipnis scores, 3-2 Cleveland)
-Double by Matt LaPorta (Santana scores, 4-2 Cleveland)
-Single by Jack Hannahan (Hafner scores, 5-2 Cleveland)
Liriano was then pulled for Jim Hoey, who was greeted by a single by Kosuke Fukudome, scoring LaPorta and making the score 6-2. Duncan eventually concluded the scoring with a two-run single off of Hoey to make the score 8-2.
Liriano took the loss for the Twins, getting charged with five runs (all earned) on just two hits in one-third of an inning. Reliever Zach Putnam picked up the win for Cleveland, his first of the season.
The second half of the double-header is scheduled to get underway at 6:05 PM Central time at Progressive Field in Cleveland.