Rebound: Santana gets a win, Boone gets a hit

Johan ended his losing streak and Bret Boone finally got a hit in a Twins uniform and it had an impact. Finishing off the Twins' five-run fourth inning, Boone singled in Luis Rodriguez following Rodriguez's triple. The inning started with hits by Joe Mauer and Torii Hunter and then a RBI double by Jacque Jones. Justin Morneau followed with a sacrifice fly and the score was tied when Micheal Ryan hit a two-run homer into the Upper Deck off Angels starter Bartolo Colon. It was Ryan's first of the year for the recent call-up. He has hit .297 this year, being one of the more positive call-ups, along with Rodriguez.

Of course, the Twins offense had other chances. With no one out in the second, the Twins had runners on second and third, but Jones struck out, Morneau flied out and Rodriguez grounded out with the bases loaded. Mauer contineud to be the team's premier hitter, going 2 for 4 and bringing his average to .305. It doesn't look like a big breakout, as regulars like Morneau still look offensively handicap and Boone still has only one hit as a Twin, but its a win and hopefully something to build on.

The pitching was strong tonight, as Santana pitched seven innings, giving up four runs, but only one earned as errors by Morneau and Rodriguez helped the Angels put up a three spot in the first. However, the three Ks is somewhat disturbing as he wasn't terribly dominant, but the improvement is definitely a move in the right direction for last year's Cy Young. Rincon and Nathan proved to be a dynamic bullpen combo again, as Nathan picked up his AL-leading 26th save and Rincon pitched a scoreless eigth.

Overall, it was nice to see a breakout inning, but it was sadly not a convincing offensive breakout. Tommorow, Mays takes the ball against John Lackey. Lets hope the Twins don't look pathetic against Lackey as they did last time he pitched against us.