If you need an example of why Ron Gardenhire isn't a perfect manager, you need to look no further than the fourth inning.
When Mike Lamb came up to the plate, six of the last seven Twins had reached base against Javier Vazquez. A two-out rally started by a Carlos Gomez homer and finished with a pair of doubles from Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau gave the Twins a 3-0 lead, and they looked to add on in the fourth when Jason Kubel walked and Delmon Young singled to start the at-bat.
Lamb had a .302 average in May and only had one sac bunt to his credit since 2003, but Gardenhire tried to play small ball, anyway. Lamb nearly popped out in his first two fouled-off bunt attempts, and then grounded into a 4-3 double play to give Vazquez momentum he sorely needed, instead of going for the jugular and trying to knock him out of the game early.
Javy escaped the inning unscathed, and after a scoreless fifth, the Sox had turned a 3-0 deficit into an 8-3 lead.
The Sox chipped away -- Joe Crede's first solo homer put the first run on the board, and Jim Thome grounded into a run-scoring double play to make it 3-2. It set up a six-run explosion in the fifth, thanks to six straight hits by the first six batters up.
It also featured a bunt after a pair of singles by Nick Swisher and Crede, except Alexei Ramirez knows how to lay one down. He dropped a perfect roller in front of Lamb, who did everything he could and still couldn't get Ramirez. That loaded the bases for Orlando Cabrera, who shot a single past Lamb's glove for one run. A.J. Pierzynski's double to right scored two, and Carlos Quentin's homer off the glove of Michael Cuddyer scored three.
Thanks to Gardenhire's overmanaging, the Sox were able to cruise to a victory without a sharp Vazquez, who was chased after a Cuddyer solo homer and a one-out Young single. Crede picked up that run with his second solo homer, the prime highlight of a perfect, 4-for-4 day at the plate.
Record: 34-26 |
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