Twins Wallop Mariners 11-0: Homers Aplenty and Scott Baker's First Win

The Twins unmistakably come to life at the start of a homestand against Seattle. Do you have your checklist ready? Mark Minnesota down as follows:

Early lead. They score two in the first, after granting the opposition nothing more than a hit. Denard Span led off with a hit, and Matt Tolbert moved him along to third with a double. The M&M boys split the RBIs, with Joe Mauer driving in Span and Morneau picking up Tolbert.

Comeback story. Scott Baker gets his first win of the season. You’ll recall that we last left him melting down in the seventh against the Royals. In about 10 minutes, he lost a no-hitter, a shutout, and a win. Tonight he makes it through the seventh with a win pretty well guaranteed by an offensive outburst (see below).

Shutout. The pitching was good, but a shutout requires some cooperation. The Mariners weren’t precisely asleep at the plate, but they didn’t have it going on. It’s also not a fluke: this was the ninth time this season they’ve scored one run or less.

Power hour. The Twins, second to last in all of baseball in home run hitting, try to make up some ground by hitting four of them, including a back to back display in the fifth by Mauer and Morneau, followed by Brian Buscher one batter later.

The most exciting, chiefly for its unlikelihood, is Brendan Harris’ steely three-run job in the second. He works the count and waits for his pitch. Mariners starter Chris Jakubauskas serves it up, and Harris sends it deep to right.

Scoring. The Twins score in four of the eight innings they need to play, and accumulate 11 runs. Not that they round up all their doggies—they can’t cash in every hit. Among the 17 men they leave on base is Jason Kubel, who’s abandoned on second with a double that came within two inches of a being the fifth home run of the night.

Spreading the wealth. Every Twin in the starting lineup scores at least one run and collects at least one hit. Contributions from Tolbert, Buscher, Harris, and Young give hope for a more diversified offensive approach.

Carlos Gomez, who only has two at-bats in a pinch-fielding role, makes a great catch in center. There ought to be a Designated Fielder position to keep someone as fun to watch as Gomez in the game. DF!

Sharp pitching. Baker’s seven innings brought him just past the 100-pitch mark, but he spent the entire game in command. Despite the great hitless string he put together against Kansas City, tonight he had a more intimidating pitching sequence against most batters. He allowed five hits, all of them lightweight little jobs.

Most important, only two of them occurred in the same inning. The sixth began with back–to-back singles, but Baker settled down to secure three outs to silence the Ms. He had five strikeouts and no walks, and he must feel his season has finally begun.

Capable bullpen. Jesse Crain pitched a serene, 1-2-3 eighth inning. Joe Nathan, who has only had five save chances all season, pitched the ninth just to see some live batters for a change.

He got an easy groundout and struck out two. With an 11-run lead, there’s not a lot of intensity, but Joe still fervently shook  his head and puffed out his cheeks a time or two in his signature signal that he’s taking all this very seriously and what he’s about to pitch now will take everything he’s got. I love that headshake.

This game required no deep strategy, miracle catch, or clutch hit. It was vigorous baseball right out of the bag—heat in the microwave and eat. If the game itself was nothing but a steady stream of easy runs, the victory was the end of a three-game losing streak and a chance to forget about that nasty road trip to Detroit and Baltimore. Turn the page.