Matt Tolbert’s two-out single in the top of the ninth inning carried the Minnesota Twins to a 4-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Saturday night.
With runners at the corners, Tolbert lined a pitch up the middle off Brad Ziegler (2-3) to score J.J. Hardy as the Twins won for the second consecutive night in their final at-bats.
It was only Tolbert’s second hit in 14 at-bats since being recalled from Triple-A and his first RBI of the season.
Oakland got the tying run on base in the bottom half when Ryan Sweeney singled, but Jon Rauch closed the door for his 15th save. The rally made a winner of Alex Burnett (1-1), who retired one batter.
Delmon Young finished with three RBIs for the Twins, including a two-run single in the sixth that broke a 1-1 deadlock.
The A’s responded in the eighth when Adam Rosales tripled in two runs to even things back up.
Twins starter Francisco Liriano was sharp in the no-decision, allowing a run on five hits in seven innings.
Minnesota | Oakland | |
Francisco Liriano | Player | Trevor Cahill |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
7.0 | IP | 6.0 |
10 | Strikeouts | 6 |
5 | Hits | 5 |
1.29 | ERA | 4.50 |
Minnesota | Oakland | |
Jim Thome | Player | Adam Rosales |
1 | Hits | 2 |
0 | RBI | 2 |
0 | HR | 0 |
2 | TB | 4 |
.500 | Avg | .667 |