Twins rout Indians for 2nd straight night

7/29/2012
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Minnesota Twins' Josh Willingham (16) is congratulated by teammate Brian Dozier (20) after hitting a two-run home run during the fourth inning in a baseball game against the Cleveland Indian.
Minnesota Twins' Josh Willingham (16) is congratulated by teammate Brian Dozier (20) after hitting a two-run home run during the fourth inning in a baseball game against the Cleveland Indian.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Samuel Deduno pitched seven strong innings for his second major league win, and Josh Willingham hit his 27th homer of the season, leading the Minnesota Twins to a 12-5 win over the Cleveland Indians on Saturday night.

Deduno (2-0) allowed two hits and struck out a career-high six in his fourth big league start. Alexi Casilla drove in four runs for the Twins, who routed the Indians for the second consecutive night after being swept three games in Chicago.

Cleveland starter Justin Masterson (7-9) allowed 10 runs -- eight earned -- over 5⅔ innings. The Indians are 6-10 since the All-Star break.

Denard Span, Ben Revere, and Willingham each drove in two runs for Minnesota, which has outscored Cleveland 23-5 in the first two games of the weekend series.

Deduno opened the game by giving up a single to Shin-Soo Choo, who scored to give the Indians the lead. But Deduno shut down Cleveland's lineup after the first, retiring 17 of the next 21 batters he faced.

Willingham's two-run homer in the fourth gave Minnesota a 2-1 lead. The next inning, Casilla hit a two-run triple. Casilla drove in two more with a double in the sixth, when Minnesota scored five runs to put the game out of reach.

Valencia, recalled from Triple-A Rochester on Friday, hit an RBI double in the seventh to make it 11-1.

Carlos Santana hit a two-run homer in the eighth off reliever Tyler Robertson.