MINNEAPOLIS It was only 10 days ago that Joe Mauer was being praised for a clutch ninth-inning single that led the Twins to not getting no-hit at Detroit.
"The rock bottom," Twins second baseman Brian Dozier called it. "About to lose 10 straight and get no-hit, that's not good.
"But everything has changed."
Since then, the Twins have won seven of nine, and Sunday they closed a five-game homestand with an emphatic 10-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners in front of an announced crowd of 34,876 at Target Field. The Twins slugged four homers, threw out a runner trying to stretch a single into a double and got a solid start from lefthander Scott Diamond.
With the Chicago White Sox losing their sixth consecutive game Sunday, the Twins took sole possession of third place in the American League Central after being in last place a week ago. Players are showing a more upbeat personality these days of course that's easy to do after hammering Seattle for 16 hits Sunday.
Even Justin Morneau, who has missed the past two games because of flulike symptoms, was congratulating teammates in the clubhouse after the game, bumping elbows so he wouldn't spread his germs.
"It says a lot about us," said Diamond, who pitched six shutout innings. "Just in this locker room, Mourny has been sick the last two days and we haven't skipped a beat. It's a positive influence not just from the starters seeing the offense come to life, on the defensive side (too) because our pitching has been strong the last couple games. It's definitely a great finish to the homestand."
The Twins have Monday off before starting a six-game road trip to Kansas City and Washington.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire spent part of his pregame media session discussing the importance of turning things around at home. He's still smarting from the previous homestand, when the Twins went 2-7.
"Take care of this place," Gardenhire said, "then you go out on the road and hang in there as best you can."
Ryan Doumit led off the bottom of the second inning with an opposite-field homer to left to open the scoring. Dozier and Aaron Hicks added back-to-back RBI doubles, giving the Twins a 3-0 lead.
Rookie Chris Herrmann led off the fourth inning with an opposite-field homer to left, the first home run of his major league career. Hicks tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly as the Twins took a 5-0 on Seattle and righthander Jeremy Bonderman, who was making his first start in the majors since Oct. 1, 2010.
Josh Willingham hit a two-run homer in the fifth. The Twins added three more runs over the next two innings, including Dozier's solo shot in the seventh.
The Twins would have loved to have seen Diamond (4-4) pitch at least seven innings, but a couple of lengthy innings on offense led to the decision to pull him after six despite having given up only four hits and no runs. He won at home for the first time since July 27, a span of 10 starts.
Right fielder Chris Parmelee had the defensive play of the game in the fourth inning when he threw out Kendrys Morales, who was trying to stretch a single into a double.
"To finish (the homestand) off the way we did shows that we are continuing to build and momentum is on our side," Diamond said. "A lot of us are pretty happy with this one."
(c)2013 Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Visit the Star Tribune (Minneapolis) at http://www.startribune.com
Distributed by MCT Information Services
"The rock bottom," Twins second baseman Brian Dozier called it. "About to lose 10 straight and get no-hit, that's not good.
"But everything has changed."
Since then, the Twins have won seven of nine, and Sunday they closed a five-game homestand with an emphatic 10-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners in front of an announced crowd of 34,876 at Target Field. The Twins slugged four homers, threw out a runner trying to stretch a single into a double and got a solid start from lefthander Scott Diamond.
With the Chicago White Sox losing their sixth consecutive game Sunday, the Twins took sole possession of third place in the American League Central after being in last place a week ago. Players are showing a more upbeat personality these days of course that's easy to do after hammering Seattle for 16 hits Sunday.
Even Justin Morneau, who has missed the past two games because of flulike symptoms, was congratulating teammates in the clubhouse after the game, bumping elbows so he wouldn't spread his germs.
"It says a lot about us," said Diamond, who pitched six shutout innings. "Just in this locker room, Mourny has been sick the last two days and we haven't skipped a beat. It's a positive influence not just from the starters seeing the offense come to life, on the defensive side (too) because our pitching has been strong the last couple games. It's definitely a great finish to the homestand."
The Twins have Monday off before starting a six-game road trip to Kansas City and Washington.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire spent part of his pregame media session discussing the importance of turning things around at home. He's still smarting from the previous homestand, when the Twins went 2-7.
"Take care of this place," Gardenhire said, "then you go out on the road and hang in there as best you can."
Ryan Doumit led off the bottom of the second inning with an opposite-field homer to left to open the scoring. Dozier and Aaron Hicks added back-to-back RBI doubles, giving the Twins a 3-0 lead.
Rookie Chris Herrmann led off the fourth inning with an opposite-field homer to left, the first home run of his major league career. Hicks tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly as the Twins took a 5-0 on Seattle and righthander Jeremy Bonderman, who was making his first start in the majors since Oct. 1, 2010.
Josh Willingham hit a two-run homer in the fifth. The Twins added three more runs over the next two innings, including Dozier's solo shot in the seventh.
The Twins would have loved to have seen Diamond (4-4) pitch at least seven innings, but a couple of lengthy innings on offense led to the decision to pull him after six despite having given up only four hits and no runs. He won at home for the first time since July 27, a span of 10 starts.
Right fielder Chris Parmelee had the defensive play of the game in the fourth inning when he threw out Kendrys Morales, who was trying to stretch a single into a double.
"To finish (the homestand) off the way we did shows that we are continuing to build and momentum is on our side," Diamond said. "A lot of us are pretty happy with this one."
(c)2013 Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Visit the Star Tribune (Minneapolis) at http://www.startribune.com
Distributed by MCT Information Services