Twins edge Tigers on 10th-inning hit
9/2/2010MINNEAPOLIS - Danny Valencia's one-out single in the 10th inning drove in Michael Cuddyer from second base and gave the Minnesota Twins a 2-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers Wednesday night.
The Twins kept their four-game lead over Chicago in the AL Central, improving to 9-5 against the Tigers this season, 7-1 at Target Field.
Against Ryan Perry (2-5), Cuddyer singled to start the inning and stole second base while Delmon Young struck out.
Then Valencia, whose single in the fifth helped the Twins score their first run against Tigers starter Max Scherzer, smacked a single to center that was deep enough for Cuddyer to score standing up just before the throw from Austin Jackson.
Jon Rauch (3-1) pitched a perfect 10th for the victory.
Liriano kept up his strong second half with seven shutout innings, powerfully and masterfully working his way out of men-on situations in the first, third, fourth, fifth and seventh.
Scherzer pitched nine innings, yielding one run on four hits and a walk. He struck out nine. He didn't give up a hit until the fifth inning.
The 26-year-old right-hander has allowed one run or less in six of his last seven starts, with just two given up in the other one.
In their last 12 games, the Tigers' starters have a 1.81 ERA and a 7-1 record with 11 quality starts of six innings or more and three earned runs or less. The Tigers are 7-5 in that stretch.