Game 24: Twins 8, Indians 3

In Sunday's rubber match, the Twins outplayed the Indians by a considerable margin. Francisco Liriano, four years removed from his incredible rookie season, is a bit less impressive than back then, but that still makes him one of the best pitchers in the American League. His fastball is now in the mid-90s instead of the upper 90s, and his slider is now in the upper 80s instead of the low 90s, but both are still impressive pitches. Today was one of his poorer outings of the year (he matched his season high in runs given up), but he still went seven innings and struck out nine. The Indians could have tacked another run on in the fifth, but two excellent throws nabbed Grady Sizemore at the plate for the third out of the inning.

David Huff kept the Indians in the game through five innings, though he was in trouble from the beginning of the game. He gave up four runs, all of them on home runs. Orlando Hudson hit a two-run homer in the first inning, and Jim Thome and Delmon Young went back-to-back in the fourth. Between the home runs, Huff fended off Twins rallies in the first and third innings. He ended his day having allowed 12 base runners (10 hits, 2 walks).

After Huff left the game, the Indians bullpen let the game get away. Rafael Perez again couldn't find the strike zone (and couldn't manage to throw a pitch without making a circuit of the mound), and left a bases loaded mess in the sixth. Jamey Wright came and in induced a double play to end the inning, but he loaded the bases himself in the seventh, and this time couldn't work his way out of it thanks to a Nick ($%^@$%$) Punto two-run single. The Twins would add two more runs in the ninth off of Hector Ambriz.

via www.fangraphs.com