Minnesota Twins: Francisco Liriano Is All Aces—No Hits White Sox

The most unlikely pitcher in the Twins rotation pulled off the most unlikely feat.

After going 94 starts over five-plus season, Francisco Liriano had not even completed a game before in his career. Add the fact he went 1-4 with a 9.13 ERA in April, there was no reason to suspect this kind of turn around.

On a cold night in Chicago, Liriano and the Twins were battling the White Sox with last place on the line in the AL Central.

Liriano took the mound in the ninth inning after already throwing over 100 pitches. After a one-out walk to Juan Pierre, he was able to get Alexi Ramirez to pop out to shortstop Matt Tolbert. 

That brought up the newest addition to the White Sox, Adam Dunn. After going 3-0 on Dunn, Liriano was able to pitch to a full count and eventually get Dunn to line out to Tolbert to end the game.

It was the Twins' first no-hitter since Eric Milton no-hit the Angels at the Metrodome on September 11th, 1999.

In a battle between the two last place teams in the AL Central, scoring has been a problem. Tonight the only run of the game would come from the Twins hottest hitter. Jason Kubel belted a 1-2 slider into the Twins right field bullpen with one out in the fourth.

Although the White Sox did failed to get a hit against Liriano, he did walk six Chicago batters including Pierre three times. 

The defensive play of the game belongs to Twins third baseman Danny Valencia. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh Carlos Quentin his a two-hopper down the line that Valencia backhanded and from foul territory threw out Quentin to preserver the no-hitter. 

The win allowed the Twins to move ahead of the White Sox for fourth place in the division. In a season with few triumphs, this is exactly the boost the Twins clubhouse needed.

With the calender turning over from April to May, perhaps Liriano's no-hitter is a sign of better things to come for the Twins.