Kubel's two homers power Twins over Yankees
Baseball Betting Lines
05/28/2010 - Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Kubel slugged a pair of home runs and drove in five while Nick Blackburn worked effectively over seven innings, as the Twins avoided a three-game sweep at the hands of the Yankees with an 8-2 win at Target Field.
The combination of Kubel and Blackburn (6-1) again proved to be the right elixir for Minnesota's struggles against New York. The Yankees' lone loss to the Twins over the last two seasons came back on May 16 at Yankee Stadium when Kubel belted a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth inning off Mariano Rivera and Blackburn hurled seven strong innings in the eventual 6-3 triumph.
On Thursday, Blackburn limited New York to two runs on nine hits and did not issue a walk, while Kubel added an RBI double and scored three times. Justin Morneau went 2-for-2 with a walk and an RBI for Minnesota, which notched only its second win in the series in the last 15 meetings -- including a New York sweep of last year's AL Divisional matchup.
"It's always good to scratch out any wins against these guys. We lost a couple close games (this series), and we have the last two years. It's a good way to end the series," Blackburn said.
Javier Vazquez (3-5) labored through 5 2/3 innings, giving up five runs on eight hits and three walks while reaching 112 pitches. Robinson Cano knocked in both Yankee runs with a double and a single.
New York had posted one-run victories in each of the first two matchups after dropping five of six coming into this set.
"We won two games, I don't want to overlook that. We beat a very good Minnesota team two out of three," said Yankees manager Joe Girardi.
The Twins had dropped three in a row and six of their last eight tilts as the game got underway, but got to Vazquez for an early 3-0 edge.
The Twins manufactured a first-inning run when Orlando Hudson worked a one-out walk, took third on a Joe Mauer single and scored on Morneau's sacrifice fly.
Michael Cuddyer led off the second frame with a double into the gap in right center and Kubel followed suit to make it 2-0. J.J. Hardy then singled to put runners at the corners and Alexi Casilla brought in Kubel with a double- play ball.
Blackburn, meanwhile, retired seven in a row beginning with a double-play ball off the bat of Alex Rodriguez to end the first. Brett Gardner began the fourth with a base hit, moved up on an error and crossed home on Cano's single to center.
Hudson tripled leading off the home fifth and later scored on a Jim Thome sacrifice fly. New York countered in the sixth on doubles by Mark Teixeira and Cano for a 4-2 game.
Kubel took care of the rest, though, extending the lead to three with a leadoff blast deep to right-center in the bottom half.
"I left a couple of hangers to Kubel. The first couple of innings my command wasn't there," remarked Vazquez.
With two out in the seventh, Kubel lined a 3-2 fastball just over a set of overhanging seats in right field for a three-run homer to cap a nine- pitch at-bat against Chad Gaudin.
The Twins cruised from there behind scoreless innings from relievers Jose Mijares and Alex Burnett.
Game Notes
Blackburn has won each of his five starts this month and lasted at least seven innings in each. The right-hander also improved to 4-0 in five trips to the Target Field mound this season...Vazquez had delivered six brilliant innings to defeat the crosstown-rival Mets last Friday at Citi Field after a disappointing start to 2010. His earned-run average stands at 6.86 through eight starts and one relief appearance...Cano continues to rake for the Yanks with a .342 average and 30 runs batted in through his first 47 games...Morneau did well to lift his major league-leading average to .377...Gaudin made his first appearance for the Yankees after signing as a free agent on Wednesday. He was released by Oakland late last week. The righty fanned three, walked one and allowed a run on two hits over 1 2/3 innings of Thursday's setback.
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Big 12 Conference betting odds
Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State
Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.
Work left to do:
Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.
Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.
Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.
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