Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Minnesota 1, Cleveland 0
When: 7:05 PM ET, Saturday, September 11, 2010
Where: Progressive Field, Cleveland, Ohio
Temperature: 64°
Umpires: Home - Brian Gorman, 1B - Tony Randazzo, 3B - Paul Nauert
Attendance: 24972
Jim Thome's one-out homer in the 12th inning - the 587th of his career - gave the Minnesota Twins a 1-0 win over the Cleveland Indians on Saturday night.

The blast, which landed in the Indians' bullpen in dead center field, came on a 2-0 pitch from Justin Germano (0-2) and moved Thome past Frank Robinson into sole possession of eighth place on the all-time home run list.

Matt Guerrier (4-7) pitched out of a jam in the 11th for the win. Matt Capps tossed the 12th for his 12th save with Minnesota and 27th of the season.

The homer was the Twins' first run of the series, covering 21 innings.

Both starters had outstanding performances. Minnesota's Nick Blackburn pitched eight shutout innings, allowing five hits and two walks. He struck out three. Carlos Carrasco pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings. He gave up five hits, walked one and struck out six.

Blackburn didn't allow a hit through five innings. Lou Marson led off the sixth by hitting a ground ball up the middle. Second baseman Orlando Hudson ranged behind the bag and backhanded the ball, but had no play and Marson had an infield hit.

The Indians were denied a run in a bizarre seventh inning. Singles by Travis Hafner and Trevor Crowe put runners on first and third with one out. Jason Donald laid down a bunt on a safety squeeze and Hafner slid home, but plate umpire Brian Gorman ruled Donald was out because the ball bounced up and hit him on the right hand for batter's interference.

Hafner was sent back to third and Luis Valbuena popped up to end the inning. Donald left the game with an injury to his hand.

The game began one hour and 50 minutes after the scheduled starting time because of rain.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Minnesota   Cleveland
Nick Blackburn Player Carlos Carrasco
No Decision W/L No Decision
8.0 IP 7.1
3 Strikeouts 4
5 Hits 5
0.00 ERA 0.00
Hitting
Minnesota   Cleveland
Joe Mauer Player Lou Marson
2 Hits 2
0 RBI 0
0 HR 0
2 TB 2
.400 Avg .500
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Minnesota 8 1 11 .195 13 9 1 3 0 0
Cleveland 8 0 8 .186 21 5 0 3 2 2