Francisco Liriano

The Twins lost 4-3 at home to the Chicago White Sox Tuesday night. A.J. Pierzynski hit a 2-run homerun off Jeff Gray in the 9th inning to break a 2-all tie. Denard Span went 4-5 with a RBI single in the 9th inning for the Twins. Danny Valencia was 1-4 with 1 RBI. Nick Blackburn allowed 5 hits and 2 earned runs in 8 innings for the Twins.

The non-waiver trade deadline in Major League Baseball is July 31 and the Twins have 2 key players that are on the market for trade, starting pitcher Francisco Liriano and centerfielder Denard Span. Liriano went from having little no value in May to having tremendous value now.

The Twins lost 2-1 Wednesday night to Baltimore. Tommy Hunter threw 7 1/3 innings with 6 hits and 1 earned run allowed to get the win. Francisco Liriano threw 6 innings with 4 hits and 2 earned runs allowed to take the loss. Liriano gave up a 2-run homerun to Adam Jones in the first inning to Baltimore. Josh Willingham hit a solo homerun for the only Twins' run. Willingham was 2-3 and Trevor Plouffe was 2-3 for Minnesota.

The Twins won 4-1 at home against the Chicago White Sox Monday night. Francisco Liriano threw 7 innings with 4 hits and 1 earned run allowed to get the win and improve to 2-7. Minnesota scored 1 run in the 1st inning and added 2 more runs in the 2nd. Joe Mauer was 3-4 with a run scored and 1 RBI and Ben Revere was 4-5 for Minnesota. Mauer is hitting .323 while Revere is now hitting .331. Jared Burton threw a scoreless 9th inning to get his 2nd save in as many days.

The Twins defeated Pittsburgh 2-1 Wednesday night. Josh Willingham hit a solo homerun in the 8th inning to break a 1-all tie for the Twins. Francisco Liriano made his longest start of the season throwing 6 2/3 innings with 4 hits and 1 earned run allowed. He didn't figure in the final decision. Jared Burton threw 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief to get the win. Glen Perkins threw a scoreless 9th inning to earn his 1st save of the season. Trevor Plouffe had a RBI single for the Twins in the first inning.

The Twins lost 5-3 at home to Milwaukee Friday night to drop their 3rd straight game. Matt Capps allowed a 2-run homerun to Martin Maldonado in the 9th inning to break the 3-all tie. Trevor Plouffe was 2-4 with 2 solo homeruns to increase his homerun total to 14 this season. Brian Dozier added 3 hits for the Twins. Francisco Liriano allowed 3 earned runs in 6 innings and didn't figure in the final decision.

The Twins lost 8-2 home to the Chicago Cubs Sunday afternoon. Minnesota was trying for a sweep of the 3-game series. Ryan Dempster threw 8 shutout innings with 4 hits allowed to get the win and improve to 2-3. Francisco Liriano allowed 4 hits, 3 walks and 4 earned runs allowed to take the loss and drop to 1-7. Jamey Carroll was 2-4 with 1 RBI and Trevor Plouffe was 2-4 for the Twins.

The Twins saw their 3-game win streak get snapped Tuesday night when they lost 1-0 at Kansas City. Bruce Chen threw 7 shutout innings with 4 hits allowed to get the win. Francisco Liriano pitched well for the Twins allowed just 4 hits, 1 walk and 1 earned run in 6 innings with 8 strikeouts but takes the loss and drops to 1-6. Brian Dozier had 2 hits for the Twins.

The Twins completed a 3-game sweep of the Oakland A's by winning 4-0 Wednesday afternoon at Target Field. Francisco Liriano was re-inserted in the starting rotation and threw 6 shutout innings with 3 hits and 2 walks allowed to get the win and improve to 1-5. He struckout 9. Josh Willingham had 2 hits including a 2-rn homerun and 3 RBIs and Brian Dozier had a RBI single.

The Twins optioned 3rd baseman Danny Valencia to triple-A Rochester after hitting .190 with 1 homerun and 11 RBIs this season. The Twins also designated for assignment lefthanded relief pitcher Matt Maloney. Maloney has a 8.18 ERA with a 1-0 record in 11 innings pitched. The Twins are calling up outfielder Darin Mastroianni and starting picher P.J. Walters from triple-A Rochester. Mastroianni was .346 with 11 RBIs and Walters was 3-1 with a 2.70 ERA in 33 1/3 innings at triple-A Rochester.