Mauer leads Twins to Victory

Joe Mauer has had two straight three-hit games in which he has displayed his great run-producing abilities. Tonight, he went 3 for 5 with an RBI in the Twins' 5-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals. Brad Radke wasn't too great in his, looking like Lohse last night by giving up four runs and nine hits in the six innings he pitched. Basically, it was more of a reverse of last night's terrible loss. They didn't dominate the Royals they way they should, but they got the win and showed a little more offense against Zack Greinke's and his cringe-worthy 1-11 record after he lost tonight.

It was a game in which some of the lesser-known Twins got the hits and therefore, the victory. Besides RBI hits by Torii Hunter and Lew Ford, Juan Castro and Luis Rodriguez each had two hits in four at-bats, Rodriguez driving in a run.

The only real highlight for pitching was Joe Nathan's ninth inning, in which he struck out two and picked up his AL-leading 25th save. Nathan, who had been inconsisent recently, looked very sharp and his fastball was clocked as high as 97 mph. He managed to get the last two hitters to strike out, both on nasty sliders. That resembles the Nathan of last year and the Twins should be really happy to see Nathan hitting his stride, even if it is against the hapless Royals lineup.

The other good news is that the Twins gain a game for once, as the White Sox lost to Oakland 4-2. Of course, thats not so great when the Twins are 10 games back, but they need to get on a run and build some confidence going into the game. Looks like Nathan and Mauer are getting there, now we just need Santana, Radke, and others to do the same.