Minnesota 11, Oakland 1
When: 3:35 PM ET, Thursday, May 19, 2011
Where: Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California
Temperature:
65°
Umpires:
Home -
Brian Runge, 1B -
Tim McClelland, 2B -
Marvin Hudson, 3B -
Ted Barrett
Attendance:
22320
By SportsDirect Inc.
Justin Morneau continued his resurgence at the plate with two doubles and his second homer of the season as the Minnesota Twins recorded season highs in runs and hits (16), completing a two-game sweep and posting a third straight win with an 11-1
victory over the host Oakland Athletics Thursday afternoon.
Nick Blackburn continued his history of torrid months of May with seven strong innings as the Twins matched their longest winning streak of the season and scored more than five runs for the just the second time in their last 12 games.
Mark Ellis drove in the lone run for the A’s, who completed a 3-4 homestand and now hit the road for seven games against San Francisco and the Los Angeles Angels.
Minnesota, which entered last in the major leagues with 127 runs in 41
games and providing Blackburn just 2.59 runs of support, didn’t waste
any time in this one after Oakland starter Tyson Ross (3-3) departed with a left oblique injury. The righthander yielded a single to leadoff man Denard Span in the first and left after throwing a few pitches to the next hitter.
Jason Kubel eventually drove home Span, and Rene Rivera hit his first homer of the season in the second off David Purcey.
Morneau homered off Craig Breslow in the fifth, a two-run shot that
provided a 4-1 lead. The 2006 MVP, who has been slow to regain his
stroke since suffering a concussion last season, is 12-for-31 in his
last eight games with seven doubles.
Trevor Plouffe hit a three-run homer during a six-run eighth as the Twins piled on late.
Blackburn (3-4), who entered having won his last nine decisions in May, allowed a run and five hits to improve to 12-3, 2.71 ERA in 20 career May starts.
Top Game Performances
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
Minnesota
|
16 |
3 |
27 |
.381 |
15 |
6 |
11 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
Oakland
|
6 |
0 |
7 |
.188 |
11 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |